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The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has admitted for the first time that he has been “sportswashing” its image and “will continue doing so” by investing in the likes of Newcastle United , LIV Golf and bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to the country.

In a stunning disclosure, Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf state’s de-facto leader, declared he would “continue doing sportswashing” due to its impact on the economy there and did not care what others thought of that.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of investing hundreds of millions of pounds in sport to distract attention from human rights violations committed by the country. They include the execution of 81 men in a single day last year, women’s rights abuses, the criminalisation of homosexuality, the restriction of free speech, and its role in the war in Yemen.

Bin Salman was also implicated personally in the brutal 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi , although the crown prince has denied any involvement.

“If sportswashing increases my GDP by one per cent then I will continue doing sportswashing,” he told Fox News.

Asked if he was “okay” with a term coined by critics of such activity, he replied: “I don’t care. I have one per cent growth GDP from sport and I’m aiming for another one-and-a-half per cent – call it whatever you want. We’re going to get that one-and-a-half per cent.”

Bin Salman currently chairs his country’s Public Investment Fund, which last year led a takeover of Newcastle and launched LIV Golf. PIF has also taken control of four of Saudi Arabia’s top clubs – Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr – which have recently secured high-profile signings including Ronaldo and reigning Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema.

Bin Salman’s apparent admission of personal involvement in sportswashing raises further questions about the Newcastle takeover, which was only approved by the Premier League after PIF provided “legally-binding assurances” that the Saudi state would have no involvement in the running of the club.

The launch of LIV Golf also sparked civil war in the latter sport, which is controversially set to end with a merger between the rebel tour and the PGA.

Hailing the proposed deal, Bin Salman said: “That’s a game changer for the golf industry. You will not have competition and you will have focus on developing the game, and that’s good for the players and the fans who love golf.”

In addition to its investment in football and golf, Saudi Arabia has hosted an increasing number of major sporting events in recent years. It will stage Fifa’s Club World Cup in December for the first time and is expected to launch a bid for the World Cup itself either in 2030 or 2034.

It has now become a permanent fixture on the Formula 1 calendar, a go-to destination for some of the biggest world title fights in boxing, while it has recently secured a foothold in men’s tennis. However, a major backlash against proposals for it to stage the Women’s Tennis Association’s end-of-season WTA Finals saw it overlooked in favour of Cancun, Mexico.

The Premier League declined to comment on Bin Salman’s remarks.

In March, its chief executive, Richard Masters, told MPs he was unable to disclose whether it was investigating who had control of Newcastle and if it was re-examining its approval of the club’s takeover.

It followed the publication of documents in a US court case in which the PIF was described as “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” PIF Governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as “a sitting minister of the government” with “sovereign immunity”.

Record spending in the Saudi Pro League over the summer is being monitored closely by the Premier League, which set aside an unexpected agenda slot on the emerging league at its shareholders meeting with the 20 member clubs.

A source with knowledge of the meeting said the English top tier detailed the recent Saudi window, with  £239million spent on English-based talent alone. However, the Premier League is still spending significantly more than Saudi.

On EFL talent alone, clubs spent £331m this year. Overall, clubs spent a collective £2.351 billion but received £1.297bn in sales for a net spend of £1.055bn, a lower figure than summer 2022.

Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk, said: “Saudi Arabia’s acquisition of high-profile sports businesses like Newcastle United or the PGA Tour are as much about sportswashing the country’s appalling human rights record as they are about adding one or two per cent to national GDP.

“The huge amounts of Saudi money currently sluicing through football and other sports are creating most of the headlines, but behind the drama of these transactions the Saudi authorities are busily cracking down on human rights.

“Not caring about the sportswashing label is one thing, but Mohammed bin Salman also doesn’t seem to care about the peaceful activists languishing behind bars in Saudi Arabia, the 196 people executed in the country last year, or the personal pain of the family of Jamal Khashoggi who are still desperately hoping to see justice done in his case.

“Mohammed bin Salman’s rule has been a truly dark time for human rights in Saudi Arabia, and no amount of talk about economic visions or of an expansion into new sporting ventures should be allowed to distract from that fact.”

Rishi Sunak is pushing Berlin to approve the sale of Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia ahead of a visit to Britain by Mohammed bin Salman.

The Prime Minister has personally urged Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, to give the green light to the defence deal, which is worth at least £5 billion.

Typhoon jets are designed, manufactured and maintained by BAE Systems, which employs 5,000 people on the programme in Lancashire.

However, defence sources told The Telegraph it was possible Germany could “scupper” the inter-government deal agreed in March 2018 to sell 48 of the multi-role jets to the Middle Eastern country, which accounts for 12pc of BAE revenues.

The Eurofighter Typhoon was developed by a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish companies under Nato’s watch in the 1980s. As a result, the consent of all four nations involved is required to export the planes.

Germany imposed a ban on exporting weapons to the Middle Eastern country after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and critic of Crown Prince Mohammed .

Mr Sunak has become heavily involved in talks over how to rescue the agreement, which is threatened by splits within the German coalition.

The Crown Prince is expected to visit the UK this autumn after he and the Prime Minister pledged to boost Anglo-Saudi defence ties.

Mr Scholz, from the Social Democrat party, is said to be in favour of approving the supersonic fighter jets deal and is sympathetic to Britain’s economic arguments.

However some senior members of the Greens, with whom his party are in a coalition, oppose it because of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Downing Street is said to have explored launching legal action to bypass Berlin, according to initial reports by the Times, but such a move would sour relations with a key European ally.

As well as securing jobs at BAE, other major defence companies with UK operations are set to benefit from an agreement with the Saudis.

Rolls-Royce is part of the consortium that builds the EJ200 engines that power the Typhoon, while Leonardo, the Italian defence group, builds the jet’s advanced radar at its Edinburgh base, along with avionics systems at its Luton plant.

In 2007 BAE sold 72 Typhoons to the Saudi air force. A defence source told The Telegraph:  “We have been trying to sell them more. If any of the nations that designed and produced that aircraft aren’t prepared to sell to Saudi that will scupper any deal.”

The source stressed that it was for the Government, and not the military, to engage with Germany over the potential sale.

One BAE source told The Telegraph they had it on good authority that there appeared to be “movement” on Germany’s position in the past year. “It doesn’t appear clear on their view any more hence why the PM is trying to get a clear answer,” they said.

Some sources have suggested to BAE that the deal could be done without Germany, as they referenced a Memorandum of Understanding among the partners that states no partner should stop another from export opportunities.

“Thus that partner (Germany) can excuse itself but we would need to then make the parts usually built by Germany,” they said.

The source stressed that it made sense from an industry perspective to work with the Saudis, not against them.

“From a geopolitical point of view, it’s better they align with the West and Western kit than our adversaries,” they added. “That’s of high strategic importance. It’s not just about money.”

According to a study by Oxford Economics, the Typhoon fighter jet programme supports more than 20,000 jobs across the UK economy. The jets are designed, manufactured and maintained by BAE Systems, which employs 5,000 people on the programme in Lancashire.

Shephard aerospace analysts last week warned that high running costs and rising competition meant that the Typhoon appeared to have “lost its market niche” and there were scant future export opportunities.

Meanwhile, efforts have been made to repair bridges with Saudi Arabia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, given the strategic significance of the Gulf nation to the West.

The prospects of arms exports recommencing have also been improved by a UN-brokered ceasefire in the nine-year long Yemeni civil wa r.

Strengthening cooperation

Mr Sunak held a phone call with the Crown Prince on Aug 17, during which he invited him to visit Britain for talks “at the earliest opportunity”.

Downing Street said after the conversation that the pair had discussed how they would “strengthen our close cooperation on defence and security”.

“The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s long-standing commitment to support Saudi Arabia’s security and regional stability,” a No 10 spokesman added.

Mr Sunak is then said to have personally raised the idea of resurrecting the Eurofighter deal in a telephone call with the German chancellor last month.

Sir Tim Barrow, the UK national security adviser, held talks with Berlin’s defence ministry while UK diplomats reached out to opponents in the Bundestag.

A government spokesman said: “When considering any potential export of Eurofighter, we work closely with the governments of Germany, Italy and Spain, in line with the commitments each nation has made to support the others’ exports.

“Last year, we welcomed Germany’s decision to extend export licences for parts for Saudi Arabia’s existing Eurofighter aircraft for three years. The UK remains steadfast in its commitment to our strategic defence relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

A German government spokesman said: “As a matter of principle the federal government does not comment on matters of internal coordination.”