We're taught that British colonialism ended many decades ago,
but there's one country in the world where Britain's relationship
is so deeply embedded with its ruling family.
A secret organisation called the Sultan's privy council which takes place in Oman.
The most senior people from the British establishment,
heads of intelligence of the military of banking of oil of politics
are secretly flown out in a Gulfstream jet to the palace in Muscat
where they sit down with the sultan and advise him for hours
about how to run his economy his defences his foreign policy,
effectively Britain is still running this country.
To get invited to the Sultan's privy council
you have to be from parts of some of the most powerful bits
of the British state the head of Mi6, the head of the uk military,
one of the queen's closest advisors, the former head of the Bank of England.
there's about half a dozen members of the House of Lords,
they've all been out to Oman.
They're very strict rules in the house of lords,
about having to declare both financial and non-financial interests.
So the fact that they sit every year on this privy council
in a foreign state that they receive hospitality,
free flights, free meals, free alcohol.
these are the sort of things that should be declared
on the house of lords websites but when you look at their entries
there's no sign that they've entered this on the record
one of the key players on the sultan privy council is alan duncan
who was a foreign office minister in the uk government
david cameron made him a special envoy to oman
which was a brand new position and he was secretly sitting on this privy council for at least 14
years i first went when i was a young oil trader in 1986 and i've been going ever since other
members of the privy council also have links to oil companies and arms companies sir christopher
geitz who was a former army intelligence officer and diplomat and the queen's private secretary for
many years he now sits on the board of ba systems the arms company we know that he's also gone out
to oman to sit on the privy council and he's now in the house of lords but if you go on his house
of lords declaration of interests there's no sign there that he is part of the oman privy council
general cynic carter who's the current chief of the defence staff he's britain's most senior
military officer another key player is eric bennett who's an incredibly secretive former
air vice marshal in the royal air force and he's been an adviser to sultan caboose of oman
since the 1990s and the privy council from what we can tell seems to be his idea so he's been
inviting out all these people getting them to advise the sultan how to run his country
and this is a country where the ordinary people have no say at all in how they're governed so
political parties are banned independent media is shut down if you insult the sultan you can get put
in prison for seven years and i know people who've been sent to prison oman for insulting the sultan
when they've got out of prison they've claimed asylum in the uk and british immigration judges
have said they're at real risk of persecution in oman the un says that there's a pervasive
culture of silence and fear in oman but this country is actually one of our closest allies
so even though it's not a democracy we have over 90 troops on loan to the sultan that's the highest
number of british troops on loan to any country in the world that team is led by a two-star general
there's someone working there in the directorate of military intelligence oman has one of the
highest defense budgets per person and this is a country that has a neutral foreign policy so it's
not a risk of being invaded by other countries the reason why it spends so much on its military
is to keep the people down we saw this in 2011 in the arab spring there were weeks of protests and
demonstrations and in one city alone 800 people were arrested britain is fully involved in keeping
the sultan in power since the young sultan took over he has doubled the size of the army
and increased the number of his british advisers all his closest aides are british
most of them former officers in the british army the relationship between britain and oman goes
back about 200 years it was a key staging post on the way to india the jewel in the crown of the
british empire and then with the discovery of oil in the gulf and in oman itself the country took on
extra importance for the uk british soldiers are helping the sultan of oman in his fight against
communist rebels to the extent that there was an area of land called missandem and this was
a kind of autonomous region until 1970 when the sas went in there and took over the area
from the local people and it was called operation intradon and that's probably the most strategic
part of the country because it has about a 20-mile stretch of water between it and iran
through that stretch of water around a third of the world's oil supplies are shipped each day
british arms companies have benefited hugely from this relationship oman has spent billions
of pounds on typhoon fighter jets from the uk and millions of pounds on surveillance gear as well
gchq britain's largest intelligence agency has three sites in oman listening stations
the royal navy has a new base there where the aircraft carrier is going to drop off on its way
to china and there's also a tank firing ground as well that's been set up there so the salt of
oman has huge support from british intelligence agencies the military and also from mercenaries
and private security companies this has all come out because alan duncan has published this diary
about his years as a foreign office minister and in the diary he spills the beans about
these privy council meetings which things that we've never been able to get access to through
freedom information requests or public records if it wasn't for him it probably would have remained
secret even though it looks like helen duncan has broken numerous transparency rules there are no
consequences for him now that he's stepped down as a minister and as mp but what's really interesting
for me is alan duncan's diary was given exclusively to the daily mail and they had the
first rights to serialize it and they had stories on their front page for days and days about the
gossip that he was revealing in his diary and that was what the newspapers focused on but on the same
pages that duncan was saying this in his diary he was also saying oh i've just been out to oman i've
been with the head of mi6 at the privy council meeting with sultan caboose and none of this has
been covered in the other newspapers i think many journalists who come across this story of oman
rather than exposing this neocolonial relationship they're actually quite taken in by the idea that
britain continues to have this control over a country in the middle east where around a third
of the world's oil supplies are shipped through each day and they put those interests above
the fact that this is a dictatorship where fellow journalists if their omani are arrested their
newspapers are shut down they're put in prison for insulting the sultan this shows actually that when
it comes to it you know the british media talk a lot about concerns for democracy in countries
like iran but here's a country where britain has a huge amount of control over there's absolutely
no democracy or free speech whatsoever and this has been going on for decades when caboose died in
january last year after 50 years in power the bbc said that tributes were pouring in for caboose as
oman mourned boris johnson said that caboose was exceptionally wise and that he was deeply saddened
by his death and he flew out there almost immediately along with alan duncan
prince charles general cynic carter and the defence secretary ben wallace they spent over
350 000 pounds on flights for an overnight visit just for a photo opportunity with the new sultan
meanwhile omani exiles in the uk were receiving death threats and being warned not to criticize
the new regime flags at british government buildings lowered to half-mast as a sign
of respect so i think that moment really showed the true nature of british foreign policy we're
happy to prop up some of the biggest dictators in that part of the world when they do our bidding
and it suits our interests and that's what boris johnson means when caboose was exceptionally wise
because he basically did what whitehall wanted him to do and often against the wishes of his
own people his majesty is a nation builder if you need a definition of puppet ruler just
look at sultan caboose of oman and his successor haytham this is neocolonialism uh par excellence
this shows that colonialism never ended for 50 years they kept salt and caboose in power
how long are they going to keep haytham in power as well how long is this neo-colonialism going
to continue for the ministry of defense is very proud of its 200-year relationship with oman is
it going to last another 100 years 200 years the conservative party manifesto in 2019 said that
britain's alliances with like-minded democracies was a reason for us to hold our heads up high
and yet here we have this incredibly intimate relationship with one of the most secretive and
repressive regimes in the middle east and yet some of the most powerful people in our country
are telling him how to run his affairs and run his dictatorship the kind of secrecy about what the
head of mi6 is doing and how the british army is doing an oman if they can get away with it there
you know what's to stop them doing it in another country in fact what's the sort i'm doing it here
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