David Cameron finally taken to task on Saudi Arabia, by young people

The decision to fly flags on government buildings at half-mast following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah - a man who led a regime that holds public beheadings, bans women from driving and flogs bloggers - sparked concern in the UK.

Today David Cameron was finally held to account over the move - by a panel of young people.

The prime minister was grilled as part of Sky News's Ask the Leaders event, where he was asked whether the move was appropriate given Saudi Arabia's well-documented human rights abuses.

He replied:

There's a longstanding relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and our United Kingdom here, a relationship between our monarchs, a relationship between the governments. We don't agree with lots of things that the Saudis do, we don't agree with the way they treat people, for instance criminals, and we make it very clear those differences.

But when the king died, as a mark of respect we thought it was right to show that respect.

To which the original questioner asked as a follow-up:

But isn't that disrespectful to the people who the Saudi king has sentenced to 1,000 lashes?

Cameron said the relationship with Saudi Arabia made Britain a safer place through cooperation on counterterrorism, but also admitted that Saudi oil was a factor.

Watch the latter exchange below:

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