Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, arriving in London today for talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said British officials failed to act on information that could have prevented the attacks on London in July 2005.

Abdullah, in an interview with the BBC at his palace in Jeddah, said Saudi officials passed intelligence about the attacks to the U.K. before they happened. He didn't give details.

``Most countries are not taking this issue too seriously, including, unfortunately, Great Britain,'' Abdullah said in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4. ``We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attack, but unfortunately no action was taken. It may have been able to avert the tragedy.''

At least 56 people were killed when four separate explosions ripped through London subway trains and a bus during the morning rush hour on July 7, 2005. British officials have said since then that they had no advance warning.

Abdullah arrived in London today for the first Saudi state visit to the U.K. in two decades. He will stay with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace after a ceremonial welcome tomorrow and meet Brown the following day.

`Skewed'

His remarks may have been ``skewed,'' a Foreign Office official specializing in the Middle East told journalists in London. Britain would have acted to prevent the attacks had the government known of the plot, he added.

Brown will discuss terrorism, the war in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and weapons orders, the Foreign Office said today.

``Saudi Arabia is obviously an important ally for us,'' Michael Ellam, a spokesman for Brown, said on Friday. ``It will be an opportunity to take stock and have bilateral talks.''

Britain and the U.S. are looking to Saudi Arabia for help in containing the insurgency they're fighting in Iraq. Saudi officials are concerned enough about the violence next door that they want to build a wall along the 900-kilometer (560 mile) border to prevent fighters from entering.

A meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, scheduled for today, was canceled after Miliband left the U.K. to spend time with his wife and their newly adopted second son, according to a Foreign Office spokesman in London. Instead, Kim Howells, a junior foreign office minister, met with the Saudi ambassador, Prince Mohamed bin Nawaf, in London.

Peace Conference

Working through the Arab league earlier this year, Saudi Arabia led a call for the implementation of the 2002 Beirut Initiative, in which Arab states pledged to make peace if Israel withdrew from land it conquered in the 1967 Middle East War. The Saudi push on that front is critical in the run-up to a conference next week in Annapolis, Maryland intended to promote Palestinian statehood.

Nawaf told today's meeting that imposing greater obligations on the Palestinians ``is clearly not logical and does not build confidence in the seriousness, fairness and credibility of the current peace process,'' he said in an e- mailed statement.

For Brown, the geopolitical interests are complicated by anger among some voters and members of Parliament about arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Tony Blair, who stepped down as prime minister in June, ordered a halt to a three-year fraud investigation into defense contracts with Saudi Arabia last December, saying the probe would have ``devastating'' consequences for national security.

Al-Yamamah Contract

The Al-Yamamah contract related to the 43 billon-pound ($87 billion) sale of BAE Systems Plc weapons to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. BAE, which won another $18 billion order for 72 Eurofighter jets from the kingdom this September, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and specifically denied making billions of dollars of secret payments to Saudi royals to win business.

``I have introduced three debates in Parliament this year expressing serious concerns over the Al-Yamamah contract and the corruption allegedly involved,'' Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, said in a letter to the Saudi ambassador, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf. ``I have, in my arguments, also been very critical of members of the Saudi royal family and the Saudi record on human rights.''

John McDonnell, a lawmaker from Britain's ruling Labour Party who launched an unsuccessful leadership bid against Brown earlier this year, said he would be protesting against the visit outside the Saudi embassy.

``The British people will be aghast at the Government entertaining on a state visit one of the most prominent anti- democratic and human rights abusing leaders in the world,'' McDonnell said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in London at markdeen@bloomberg.net; Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2007 13:36 EDT