The time when Tony Blair became an arms salesman; wanted a favour from Kuwait for support in the Gulf war

It has been revealed that former LabourUK Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded Kuwait to buy the latest British artillery equipment in the late 90s, particularly theAS90 howitzer, to compensate for receiving support from the European nation during the Gulf War.

Reportedly, from 1998 to 1999, the British PM made several overtures in front ofKuwait’s Sheikh Sa’ad to sell the weapons. Such was Blair's attempt to seek a deal that during a return journey to Britain from South Africa, he used the layover to call the Sheikh and further the talks.

The Labour leader even wrote letters to the crown prince where he claimed AS90 as 'the best 155mm gun in the world today'. Blair's aggressive sales tactics came in the backdrop of the US offering its much cheaper M109 howitzer to Kuwait. Blair did not want the deal to go through and thus played the emotional card. However, SheikhSa’ad made it clear that the price of AS90 was too high.

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“The prime minister raised the AS90. It was an effective weapon, although he knew the US had offered the M109. He hoped very much that all the support we had given Kuwait would be remembered." private Secretary Philip Barton at 10, Downing Street wrote in a letter.

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According to internal briefing notes released by UK's National Archives, Blair was put under pressure after he was told that the government was 'frankly disappointed' to have 'won so little Kuwaiti defence business since the end of Gulf war'.

Despite Blair's best lobbying efforts, Kuwait could not be persuaded and two months after his meeting with the Sheikh, the West Asian country signed with the US to acquire the M109 howitzers.

(With inputs from agencies)

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