Yesterday, the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister turned up in Riyadh to pay their respects to Salman’s half-brother, King Abdullah, whose death was announced on Friday. Abdullah’s demise, at the age of 90, unleashed a nauseating display of hypocrisy among world leaders.

Flags flew at half-mast in Whitehall while David Cameron – sorry, pass-the-sick-bag moment coming up – praised the deceased despot’s efforts towards “strengthening understanding between faiths”. I wonder if the PM could show me any evidence that the Saudi regime, which does not allow distribution of non-Muslim texts and regards apostasy as a capital crime, is remotely interested in understanding other faiths?

This is the same David Cameron who marched in Paris two weeks ago in solidarity with the victims of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism. Then, there was much talk about human rights and free expression, both of which get short shrift in Saudi Arabia. Barack Obama, a conspicuous no-show in Paris, found the time to praise the absolute monarch and hailed the US-Saudi relationship “as a force for stability and security in the Middle East”. His Secretary of State, John Kerry, tweeted that the dead tyrant was “a man of wisdom & vision”. He even – I’m sorry, but that sick bag is about to overflow – claimed that the world “has lost a revered leader”.