LONDON: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Britain’s QueenElizabeth for lunch at the start of a high profile visit to London.

A fiery exchange in parliament between May and opposition Labour Partyleader Jeremy Corbyn underlined tension in Britain over Prince Mohammed’strip, which is aimed at building abroader economic partnership between thetwo countries, but has sparked protests about human rights and war in Yemen.

“The link that we have with Saudi Arabia is historic, it is an importantone, and it has saved the lives of potentially hundreds of people in thiscountry,” May said, pausing her answer briefly as opposition lawmakerscried “Shame!”.

The debate took place as Prince Mohammed lunched with the British monarchon the first leg of trip packed with displays of diplomatic affectiondesigned to help the widen longstanding defence ties into a morefar-reaching partnership.

Both countries sense an opportunity to broaden their existing relationship:Britain is looking for trading partners as it exits the European Union, andSaudi Arabia needs to convince sceptical investors about its domesticreforms.

But when Prince Mohammed meets May later on Wednesday, demonstrators willbe outside protesting against both countries’ roles in Yemen where war haskilled an estimated 10,000 people and where 8.3 million people depend onfood aid and 400,000 children have life-threatening levels of malnutrition.

Corbyn said British military advisers based in Saudia Arabia were”directing the war” in Yemen and that the government was colluding inevents which showed signs of being war crimes. May´s spokesman said thecomments were “strange” and he would look into them. – Agencies