DAVID CAMERON responded yesterday to Jeremy Corbyn’s call by urging Saudi Arabia not to crucify and behead a young man arrested on a protest while still a teenager.

The PM said his government did not hold back in tackling the Saudi government on human rights but insisted it was right to work with the country on other issues.

In his first Labour conference speech as leader, Mr Corbyn urged Mr Cameron last week to personally intervene in the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr.

Speaking ahead of his own conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron was asked on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show what his message to the Saudi government would be.

“‘Don’t do it’,” he said. “We have never stood back just because they are partners when it comes to national security and they have given us vital … information that has stopped bombing attacks in Britain.”

The Ministry of Justice is bidding for a contract in Saudi Arabia offering expertise on good practice in prisons, despite Justice Secretary Michael Gove closing down the commercial body selling British services to other countries.