Keighley MP Ann Cryer has visited Saudi Arabia's bomb-hit capital Riyadh in defiance of Foreign Office advice.

She arrived in the city just three days after the al-Qaida terrorist attacks, which killed 34 people.

Mrs Cryer was visiting Riyadh as part of a fact-finding mission, which was also designed to build bridges between the British Government and the Arab world. "We were advised by the Foreign Office and by family and friends not to go, but the trip was arranged before the bombing and it would have been unfair on the organisers to have cancelled," she told the Keighley News on her return to the UK this week.

"By cancelling the visit we would have been allowing the thugs to rule our lives."

Mrs Cryer - who was joined on the weekend trip by three other MPs and a lord - stayed in a heavily guarded conference hotel, just a few miles from the scene of the horrific suicide bombings.

"Although I did have some qualms before setting off, I didn't at any point feel threatened or in danger," she said.

The party's itinerary included visits to a school and a hospital, and talks with Saudi government ministers, plus representatives of chambers of commerce and industrial organisations.

Mrs Cryer also met one of the country's royal princes.

She added: "It was a very useful and worthwhile trip. There are a lot of things I disagree with in Saudi Arabia but I met many well-meaning people and it was good to have an exchange of views.

"There are no elections - the royal family is the Government - and the prince admitted there was a need for change.

"They understand the need to move towards a democracy and they took on board our concerns, but it was made clear that things happen very slowly in the country."

This week the British embassy in Riyadh was closed to the public amid fears that further terrorist attacks on Western interests were planned.