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UK deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden made a secret trip to the United Arab Emirates last week in an attempt to repair a diplomatic relationship that has fallen into its worst state in years.
His visit, made before travelling to Saudi Arabia on an official delegation, followed increasing frustration from Emirati officials over comments by British politicians about a blocked UAE-linked bid to buy the Telegraph.
The relationship has also been further damaged by a perceived recent United Nations snub.
The tensions have come as the UK seeks billions of pounds of fresh investment from the state’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.
Abu Dhabi has been taken aback that UK domestic politics appears to have trumped what the UAE considers an important strategic relationship, officials and analysts from both countries said.
Some Emirati officials feel the country has been demoted to a “punching bag” for British politicians seeking to appear tough domestically, said one person close to talks between the two nations.
“This isn’t anger or frustration,” said a second person with knowledge of the bilateral relationship. “This is exhaustion.”
Senior British politicians have recognised that the UK hostility to the Telegraph deal has frayed the ties between the two nations.
Kemi Badenoch, UK business and trade secretary, told the Financial Times that politicians “are often careless about how they speak about other countries . . . There was probably a lot said about the UAE that was very undiplomatic . . . There are lessons to be learned about how we do that better.”
The pair have close historic links, including a 2021 deal for the UAE to invest £10bn in new technologies and energy in the UK.
But officials and analysts from both sides said a series of recent ruptures have left ties in their worst state since 2018, when the UAE briefly jailed a British academic on spying charges that the UK strongly denied.
Dowden’s visit, where he met with senior Emirati government officials, was the latest salvo in a concerted effort to repair the relationship. The UK’s Cabinet Office said Dowden discussed “deepening and strengthening our diplomatic and investment ties”.
Weeks earlier, UK foreign secretary Lord David Cameron met his counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meetings in Riyadh.
The relationship has been eroded over several years. In 2022, Iran-backed Houthis launched missile and drone attack close to the capital, Abu Dhabi. Emirati officials were dismayed when then-prime minister Boris Johnson failed to call or issue any public statement of support shortly after the event.
This year, the UK’s ruling Conservative government raised questions over the autocratic state’s media record, and effectively blocked an Abu Dhabi-backed £600mn takeover of the Telegraph Media Group. The failed bid had been backed by vice-president Sheikh Mansour, whose brother is the Gulf state’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. The UAE government was not directly involved in the deal.
One UK government figure said there was “nervousness” inside Whitehall that blocking the Telegraph deal could further delay a long-awaited trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
More recently, the UK called a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the ongoing bloody war in Sudan, in which more than 15,000 people have been killed.
At the meeting, to which the UAE was not invited, a representative of the Sudanese Armed Forces accused the UAE of backing its opponent, the Rapid Support Forces.
Emirati officials strongly deny the claims of involvement, and foreign secretary Sheikh Abdullah spoke directly to Cameron about the incident, according to people briefed on their discussions.
The UK Foreign Office said: “The UK enjoys a strong relationship with the UAE and is committed to working closely on a range of issues.” The UAE ministry of foreign affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Rising concern about the UK’s conduct comes as the UAE’s own global star rises as an increasingly influential Arab power.
“The UK was in the top five, maybe even top three of the UAE’s allies and partners since the UAE’s establishment,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political science professor and senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
“Things have changed over the past 50 years, the UAE is a rising regional power . . . and the UK is apparently stuck in the past, does not realise there is a new UAE,” he added.
The pair are still working on Gaza, energy and climate issues, and the relationship has come through rocky patches before.
But some analysts said this time the UK needed to show contrition.
“The UK has to understand that when the UAE is angry, you have to take the UAE seriously,” said Abdulla. “Maybe it’s time the UK pays us a visit and says sorry.”