The Guardian- On 19 May 2015, as home secretary, Theresa May, was openly criticised at the Police Federation conference by a former Manchester police officer, Inspector Damian O�Reilly, who had been named community officer of the year in 2010, but had subsequently resigned in frustration over policing cuts. He told May bluntly: �We run the risk here of letting communities down, putting officers at risk and ultimately risking national security.� May accused the police of �scaremongering�.

May wants to be elected on a strong and stable platform. But her actions belie her words. Jeremy Corbyn is absolutely right to identify British foreign policy as a proximate cause of � not a justification for � terrorist threats (Report, 26 May). Six weeks ago, the PM led a trade mission to Saudi Arabia. Under fire from Labour, she denied the UK had been selling its principles for the sake of trade deals for the post-Brexit era. Saudi Arabia is primarily important for selling us oil, and spending billions on buying arms. But what is the record of the Saudis in combating extremism? On 5 October 2014, retired General Jonathan Shaw told the Daily Telegraph that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were �primarily responsible for the rise of the extremist Islam that inspires Isil terrorists,� emphasising �This is a timebomb funded by Saudi and Qatari money and that must stop.�

Arms sales and oil are the reason ministers refuse to face up to the perverse reality of Saudi support for terrorism, both against Iran-backed Shia Muslims in Syria and Iraq over the past decade, and innocent concertgoers in Manchester this week, when murderously attacked by an Islamic State-supporting suicide bomber, whose very ideology is exported from, and funded by, the Saudis.
David Lowry
Stoneleigh, Surrey

Read more here