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Welcome to The Spectator Podcast. I'm Isabel Hardman. On this week's episode, we'll be turning our attention to the Middle East and the unlikely alliance of Saudi Arabia and Israel as they stare down a common enemy.

We'll also be considering whether the old Adage the night is always darkest before the dawn

holds for Theresa May and wondering why there hasn't been a great musical about British history.

First, last week saw a massive anti-corruption push in Saudi Arabia outst a number of princes.

The putch was initiated by

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and in this week's magazine cover story, John R. Bradley looks at how

the young prince has attempted to align his country with Israeli interests in order to squeeze out

a mutual antagonist, Iran. I'm joined now to discuss this issue with Vali Nassir, an Iranian scholar and Jane Kinemont,

senior research fellow at Chatham House. So who is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Valley?

Well, he's one of the younger sons of the current King, King Salman, who was the son of the founder

of Saudi Arabia. And he rose very quickly, first thing, as the deputy

crown prince and then as crown prince, once his father became king, it appears that he was his

father's favorite to assume the mantle of leadership of Saudi Arabia. Once this king dies,

and as he has planned planned that the leadership would pass

to the next generation. He's a very ambitious political leader with a vision to change Saudi

Arabia's economy, to change its social political profile, to consolidate power in his own branch

of the family, and also to raise the profile of Saudi Arabia

as a regional actor, in particular at the expense of Iran's influence in the region.

In his spectator piece this week, John says that the prince refuses to govern through consensus.

Is that a fair assessment of his approach? The better way to put it is that Notti refuses to govern through consensus. Is that a fair assessment of his approach?

The better way to put it is that not he refuses to govern through a consensus, but rather

...