Ashdown: UK failing to pressure Gulf states over jihadist funding

Lord Ashdown has accused the government of failing to put pressure on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states which he said were funding jihadism.

The former Lib Dem leader told the Today programme he worried that the "closeness" of the Conservative party to Gulf interests was hampering the effort to tackle extremism.

"The failure to put pressure on the Gulf States - and especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar - first of all to stop funding the Salafists and Wahabists, and secondly to play a larger part in this campaign... leads me to worry about the closeness between the Conservative Party and rich Arab, Gulf individuals,” he told presenter John Humphrys.

"Will he launch an inquiry into the funding of jihadism? If not, I think we're entitled to ask some questions about why not."