UAE foreign minister treats Nigel Farage like prime-minister-in-waiting on UK trip

UAE foreign minister treats Nigel Farage like prime-minister-in-waiting on UK trip Submitted by Imran Mulla on Sat, 05/16/2026 - 10:12 Abu Dhabi finds common ground with Reform UK over a shared opposition to political Islam UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in London on 15 May 2026 (Screengrab/X) Off 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. 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 Time...

Original source: Middle East Eye