Boris Johnson defends visiting Saudi Arabia for new oil deal after claims he's going 'from dictator to dictator'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended trying to forge closer links with Saudi Arabia for oil as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia continues.

Mr Johnson was meeting with the United Arab Emirates' Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in the Al Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi to try and strike a new oil deal, where he said the UK 'needed independence' from Russia and Vladimir Putin.

And despite concerns over human rights in Saudi Arabia and claims the Prime Minister was just going from 'dictator to dictator', Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, said Britain would need to work with countries 'we don’t necessarily agree with' in the face of Russian aggression as she defended the PM's trip.

Ms Truss, asked if the UK was prepared to turn a blind eye to human rights concerns in Riyadh due to a desire for cheaper oil, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm not condoning every action by the Saudi government.

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"What I'm saying, though, is we are facing such a serious threat from Vladimir Putin - a threat we didn't take seriously enough in 2008 and 2014 - that we need to throw everything at it.

"We need to be prepared to work with countries we don't necessarily agree with because this is a threat to global security in a way that no other country poses that level of threat."

Ms Truss said the Russian President posed a 'serious threat to the global order' and 'an incredibly serious threat to European security'.

She argued 'we cannot afford to simply rule out countries because we don’t like a particular policy'. The pool of UK journalists travelling with the PM has no access to the meeting, with coverage only granted to No 10's official photographer