Brown set for talks with Saudi king

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The Prime Minister's face-to-face talks with King Abdullah are expected to cover Britain and Saudi's shared interests in counter-terrorism, the Middle East peace process, Iraq and Iran.

But Mr Brown faces charges of hypocrisy for failing to highlight human rights abuses in Saudi - a major trade partner - while condemning the regimes in Zimbabwe and Burma.

Downing Street said Mr Brown would "raise issues he believes to be appropriate", but the Foreign Office said ministerial meetings would not be dominated by human rights concerns.

The desert kingdom is regarded as extremely important by the Government, because of its pivotal role in vital global issues.

The relationship has previously attracted controversy after the Government halted a Serious Fraud Office bribery inquiry into the massive al-Yamamah arms deal with BAE Systems.

Liberal Democrat acting leader Vince Cable is boycotting the visit, while backbench Labour MPs are planning to join human rights demonstrators staging a protest outside the Saudi embassy.

As well as Saudi's human rights record, the trip has attracted controversy after the king insisted that Britain was not doing enough to tackle terrorism. The Foreign Office was forced to rebut his claims that the Saudi authorities had provided information which could have averted the July 7 attacks.

After talks with Mr Brown, King Abdullah will also today meet Tory leader David Cameron and, separately, the Prince of Wales at Clarence House.

The king and the rest of his Saudi delegation will leave the UK on Thursday.