Conor Burns (Conservative) and Thomas Docherty (Labour), the chairman and
vice-chairman of the group, described the race as “an incentive to the
authorities in Bahrain” to show that it is serious about reform and argued
that the kingdom had learned from events last year.
Among other appointments Bahrain has hired John Yates, the former assistant
commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to overhaul policing.
Yates said this week that the unrest did not amount to organised protests,
describing it as “vandalism, rioting on the streets, acts of wanton damage
that are destroying the economy”.
The letter from the All-Party Parliamentary Group was a response to a similar
open letter to The Times last week from a group of British peers
urging Formula One’s rulers to cancel the race.
Ecclestone said he was not worried about the sport becoming a political
football. “We’ve always been non-political,” he said. “Any decision will be
made on grounds of safety.”
Both Ecclestone and the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, were
criticised last year for dragging their heels in the wake of the crisis,
first postponing the grand prix, then rescheduling and then cancelling
altogether when it became clear that there was no appetite from teams,
sponsors or the public to go.
There remain a number of potential conflicts of interest, with the president
of the Bahrain Motor Federation an influential member of the FIA World
Council and McLaren part-owned by Bahrain.
A spokesman for the FIA said on Tuesday night that the organisation believed
the “staging of a grand prix would be beneficial in bridging some of the
difficulties Bahrain is experiencing”.