What can Rachel Reeves gain from cosying up to Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia?

In her unofficial role of head of sales for UK plc, chancellor Rachel Reeves is in the Gulf states drumming up some business and investment.

Her visit centres on Saudi Arabia, the regional superpower; Britain has much to gain from a closer relationship with the Saudis and other states in the region. But there are complications…

She’s going to speak at the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, followed by the Future Investment Initiative – the so-called “Davos in the Desert”. She’ll be making the case for investing in the UK, backed by a high-powered delegation including Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, GSK chair Sir Jonathan Symonds, HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery, and London Stock Exchange chief executive Julia Hoggett.

Informally, they’ll all be exploring opportunities to attract inward deals, while Ms Reeves will be pushing the cause of a breakthrough free trade deal between Britain and the Gulf Cooperation Council, the regional economic club that comprises the Saudis plus Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the meantime she’ll be announcing some fresh investment.

It’s about soft power, and the ultimate prize is that Gulf States trade deal, to sit alongside the revised Brexit deal, the US trade deal and free trade with India. As a Remainer, Ms Reeves is living the Brexit dream of making deals that wouldn’t be possible if Britain UK was still a member of the European Union. Funny old world.

Not immediately, but the possibility is there and the gains could principally be two-fold. First, Britain’s defence industry could be a major beneficiary, building on very long-standing diplomatic and defence links going back more than a century. Ideally, Ms Reeves would be coming home with something like the celebrated Al Yamamah, signed 40 years ago by then premier Margaret Thatcher and £40bn (£125bn in today’s prices) – the biggest single UK deal for anything, anywhere.

Second, there is still huge potential for inward “portfolio” investment: buying British assets and companies to boost UK productivity, growth and living standards. Perhaps in time there could be agreement on, say, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and more visas. Green energy, as the Gulf states diversify their economies and look to the future, is another potential area. In the meantime, if they just bought some more gilts to fill the government’s £50bn fiscal black hole, it would be a great help.

Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund alone is worth about $1 trillion, so investment in British infrastructure, companies and financial assets is certainly possible. The returns from a proper free trade agreement would be relatively modest, according to the government – £1.6bn to the UK economy each year and a further £600m to UK workers’ annual wages in the long term – tiny in proportion of the ongoing damage from Brexit and losses from access to EU markets.

Not unless you think they’ve been a detriment to any of the following, for example, which they fully or partially own: Sainsbury’s; Newcastle United football club; the London Stock Exchange; Canary Wharf; Harrods; the Ritz and Savoy hotels, and Heathrow airport.

Human rights, because the record of some of the states is appalling and many – especially trade unions – counsel caution about getting closer to regimes accused of involvement in assassination, as is the case of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman following the murder in Istanbul of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

One particular recent controversy with the UAE in recent years has been the reluctance of successive British governments to permit UAE-connected entities to gain control of the Telegraph Media Group. So there are tensions as well as close diplomatic, security and royal links. At least the British and the Gulf states agree on the latest Donald Trump peace plan for the Middle East and justice for the Palestinian people.