President Assad of Syria was previously considered for an honorary knighthood by the Queen during Tony Blair's era, reports The Times on Sunday.
According to official papers obtained by The Sunday Times under freedom of information laws, discussions took place ahead of Assad's 2002 visit to the UK, where he was granted an audience with the Queen and Prince of Wales.
The documents reveal in details the measures taken by the British government to enhance the Syrian president's image by promoting Assad's "photogenic" wife and seeking to ensure he was portrayed by the media in a favourable light.
According to the papers, the then British ambassador to Syria, Henry Hogger, told officials in London:
"I know that our main concern is to try and fix in advance the handling of difficult media issues (eg. why are we cosying up to this nasty dictatorship that locks up its own MPs?)"
Commenting on the unearthed documents, Hogger remarked, "Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Were we to have known then what we know now, some of the advice and decisions might have been different."
