The United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister met with Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, during a visit to London.
Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan,who also serves as the UAE’s deputy prime minister, was photographed sitting with Farage on Friday.
The Emirati foreign affairs ministry said the pair discussed the “latest regional developments and the repercussions of the unprovoked Iranian terrorist attacks targeting the UAE”, as well as strategic relations between the UAE and Britain.
Abdullah bin Zayed also met British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell during the visit.
The unusual decision to also meet Farage indicates that the Reform leader is being treated by the UAE as a prime minister-in-waiting.
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Reform scored major gains in last week’s local elections and continues to perform strongly in the polls. The party has also been cultivating increasingly close ties with the Emirati government.
A new UAE-Reform alliance?
To many, it may seem like a strange alliance, but Abu Dhabi is thought to have found common ground with Reform over a shared opposition to political Islam.
Last September, Farage pledged to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, citing the fact that several Gulf states have done so.
And last week, the Financial Times reported that Farage was pushing for a meeting with the president of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Abdullah bin Zayed met with @Nigel_Farage, discussed the latest regional developments and the repercussions of the unprovoked Iranian terrorist attacks targeting the UAE. Both sides also explored the 🇦🇪-🇬🇧 strategic relations. pic.twitter.com/GCXCJFyUaD
— OFM (@OFMUAE) May 15, 2026
In January, MEE reported that Farage delivered the keynote speech at a private party in Dubai hosted by the British television channel GB News.
Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology, attended the party.
“Look around at the palm,” Farage said in his speech. “I want Clacton to look like this,” referring to Farage’s constituency in England.
According to sources, he praised the UAE for banning the Muslim Brotherhood and said a Reform government would do the same.
“We have a lot to learn from you, my dear sirs,” Farage said, addressing the Emirati officials in attendance.
“We recognise you are our friends – a Brexit London, a Reform London, will remember you.”
Reform and British Muslims
In February, Farage said in a speech in London that Islamists are “embedded” not just in Britain’s political and education systems, but also in its police force.
In March, he accused Muslims praying at an interfaith event in Trafalgar Square of “attempting dominance over our capital city and our culture”.
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“We will not put up with this anymore,” he added.
The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE.
Founded in Cairo in 1928, it is one of the world’s largest and best-known movements espousing political Islam.
The Muslim Brotherhood has long maintained that it is a peaceful movement committed to democratic political participation.
However, many autocratic governments in the Middle East and North Africa view it as a major threat.
This is because, in instances when free elections are held in the region, parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood often win outright or become the largest opposition party.
In January 2025, the UAE labelled eight British organisations as terror groups over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, although none are accused of breaking British law.
In 2023, it was also revealed that the UAE had paid the Geneva-based intelligence firm Alp Services to launch a smear campaign against Britain’s largest Muslim charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide, by attempting to link its officials with the Muslim Brotherhood and militant groups.
