Nigel Farage pushes to meet UAE president as ties deepen with anti‑Muslim networks

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is seeking a meeting with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in a move that could boost his international profile and deepen political and financial links with the oil‑rich Gulf state, the Financial Times has reported.

People familiar with the talks say Farage hopes a meeting in the coming weeks would bolster his image as a statesman as his party leads in UK opinion polls. It would be one of his first engagements with an overseas head of state other than former US president Donald Trump since taking over Reform UK.

Farage is said to have travelled to Abu Dhabi last month in a trip funded by the Emirati government, and is slated to speak at a high‑profile media event in Dubai later this month.

The UAE has increasingly courted Western populists who share its hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements. Farage has said he would proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK if elected; the UAE has already banned the group and lobbied Western governments to follow suit.

READ: UAE president accepts Trump’s invitation to join Gaza ‘peace board’

Reform figures say the party is also exploring fundraising among British expatriates in the Emirates, and has leaned on Nadhim Zahawi — a senior defector from the Conservatives with longstanding ties to Gulf business — to cultivate Emirati contacts.

Critics, however, see a deeper pattern in these overtures. Investigations have documented how the UAE has worked for years to shape narratives in Europe and the West about Islam and “Islamist extremism” — often in ways that dovetail with far‑right anti-Muslim racism.

Abu Dhabi reportedly played a central role in orchestrating a transnational campaign to delegitimise Muslim political actors and stoke anti-Muslim sentiment. Through a well-funded network of lobbyists, think tanks, media platforms and covert influence operations, the UAE has targeted Muslim civil society organisations in Europe and North America, branding them as extremists to justify surveillance and exclusion.

This strategy is said to form part of a broader state-led effort to export the UAE’s authoritarian model abroad. While cracking down on dissent at home, the regime has simultaneously built alliances with far-right figures, self-styled counterterrorism experts and Islamophobic commentators in the West, offering them political access and financial backing in return for pushing a narrative that cast political Islam as a global threat.

Human rights lawsuits filed in the United States allege that these operations have included smear campaigns and illegal intelligence gathering, with one case seeking $2.8 billion in damages from Emirati officials and affiliated actors over what it calls a “dark PR” project to destroy reputations and silence critics.

This alignment was further underscored this week when far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, known for his virulent anti-Muslim activism, praised the UAE on social media. Robinson framed the Gulf state as a crucial bulwark against a so-called “Islamic NATO” —a security alliance between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Robinson made a controversial visit to the UAE last month.

How does Saudi Arabia threaten Israel’s security and American interests? Saudi Arabia is reshaping the region through a military axis outside the American umbrella—this is a direct threat to Israel’s security and Washington’s interests. Reports from Reuters indicate that Saudi… pic.twitter.com/C1Lnhff8Dx

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) January 19, 2026