James Barr Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Historian James Barr talks about his book about how Britain and the United States rivalled each other for post-war influence in the Middle East.

Barr uses new source material to challenge the assumption that the US and Britain have colluded in the Middle East. He reveals how CIA officer Kim Roosevelt sabotaged British efforts to maintain a post-war sphere of influence that threatened US-owned oil company Aramco and how British explorer Wilfred Thesiger worked as a scout for Aramco’s British rival the Iraq Petroleum Company. He shows how the US foiled a British attempt to split Iran in 1951, uncovers the clandestine efforts of British intelligence and explains how the US ultimately prevailed.

Barr has worked in politics at the Daily Telegraph, in the City and at the British Embassy in Paris. He is a visiting fellow at King’s College, London, and author of A Line in the Sand.
Here he talks to LBC radio host Matthew Stadlen, a former Telegraph interviewer and BBC presenter.