Revelations anger Omani pro-democracy activists who say it is ‘proof that British colonialism never ended’. The repressive ruler of a close UK ally in the Gulf secretly received decades of advice on security, foreign and economic policy from a group of privy councillors who were drawn almost exclusively from the British establishment, it has emerged. Oman’s dictator, Sultan Qaboos, who ruled the country for 50 years from 1970 to 2020, was advised by a secret privy council right up until his death last year. The scheme appears to have been inspired by Britain’s privy council, the oldest functioning legislative assembly in the UK, whose members advise the Queen and have access to classified intelligence material.