Row over renaming of Sandhurst hall after Bahrain donation

Mons Hall, named after the 1914 battle that saw thousands killed, will be renamed the King Hamad Hall after he gave £3 million towards its refurbishment.

Defence chiefs were accused of betraying the memory of soldiers who gave their lives for their country.

MPs also questioned the ethics of honouring regimes that have dubious human rights records.

It emerged an accommodation block at the Army officer training academy has also been named after the first president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following a £15 million donation from the country.

Andy Slaughter, Labour’s chairman of the Democracy In Bahrain all-party parliamentary group, said: “To change the name of something which commemorates a very tragic episode in British military history and an example of courage and heroism of British soldiers simply because they’re getting a sum of money from a rather dubious source is appalling.

“It reflects the appalling double standards the British Government and institutions have in relation to the Bahraini regime, which is guilty of all sorts of human rights abuses and fundamentally undemocratic."

The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War.

Facing overwhelming odds from a far larger German force, more than 1,600 British soldiers were killed along with more than 5,000 Germans.

It gave its name to a sports hall at Sandhurst but the title will now be dropped when it is reopened next month following a refit.

King Hamad, who is Patron of the Sandhurst Foundation – a forum for former officer cadets – has been invited to the reopening but is still to make a decision.

A plaque will be unveiled with the inscription: “King Hamad Hall. This building, the former Mons Hall, was refurbished in 2013 with a generous gift from the Kingdom of Bahrain”.

Last week, a 16-year-old boy was shot dead by Bahrain security forces during clashes that marked the second anniversary of a Shia-led uprising against the kingdom's Sunni rulers.

Demonstrations, most staged in Shia villages, turned violent when police fired shotguns and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Protesters chanted "Down Hamad" in reference to the king and threw petrol bombs at the security forces.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP, said on Sunday: “There’s something deeply ironic in renaming a hall that was in memory of soldiers who died in a tragic battle in the First World War in honour of a king who is routinely committing human rights abuses, including the shooting of demonstrators. I’m appalled.

"We should not be accepting money from such people. It’s simply wrong. They are in effect trying to buy our silence."

Sandhurst has also opened the Zayed Lines accommodation block in memory of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE founding father.

The building was paid for by a £15 million contribution from the state.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: “All donations to Sandhurst are in compliance with the UK’s domestic and international legal obligations and our values as a nation. “Providing defence training and education to overseas cadets at the same high standards used by UK armed forces helps to save lives and raise awareness of human rights.

“It also helps build stability overseas as part of the Government’s wider foreign policy goals.”