Prince Andrew pulls out of Saudi trip 'for security reasons'

The Duke of York was due to travel to the country next week, along with government business officials, in his position as Britain's special trade representative.

The prince has faced growing calls for him to resign his unpaid post in recent days following criticism of his friendship with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this month, Prince Harry pulled out of a charity polo match in Dubai because of unrest in the Middle East.

Prince Andrew's trip to Saudi Arabia, organised by government business body UK Trade & Investment, was designed to boost defence contracts in a country that is seen as a lucrative market for British firms. But a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said that "due to safety issues in the region", the visit had been postponed.

The prince has been a trade envoy since 2001, but he has been under pressure because of his links to Epstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution. His judgment has also been questioned for holding meetings with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif, and for entertaining the son-in-law of Tunisia's ousted president at Buckingham Palace.

Meanwhile, Sir Menzies Campbell has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into Britain's 43 billion arms deal with Saudia Arabia after Wikileaks disclosed details from a leaked US diplomatic cable that showed the full case against the defence contractor BAE Systems.

The document appears to show that the Serious Fraud Office, which dropped the investigation into BAE in 2006, had evidence of a 73m payment to a Saudi prince and BAE allegedly circumvented anti-bribery laws by making payments to overseas agents.