UK lords working for consulting firm lobbying for UAE
Members of the UK’s House of Lords are working for a consulting firm hired as a lobbyist by the United Arab Emirates, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The Gulf state is widely accused of backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, which has committed mass killings and widespread human rights abuses in Sudan’s civil war.
Thangam Debbonaire, the former Labour MP and shadow culture secretary, is one of three peers working in paid roles for FGS Global, a multinational consultancy. The firm has lobbied senior UK officials on behalf of the UAE since October, according to the UK’s Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
The Conservative peer Ruth Porter, who served as deputy chief of staff to former prime minister, Liz Truss, is a managing director at the firm, while the non-affiliated peer and ex-advisor to David Cameron, Andrew Cooper, is a partner.
According to the register, FGS Global contacted "members of Parliament and their staff and senior civil servants" as part of a campaign involving "meetings, telephone calls and emails to promote awareness of the UAE-UK bilateral relationship with stakeholders".
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The firm also provided media advice to the UAE embassy in the UK and "assistance with content creation to promote awareness of the UAE-UK bilateral relationship".
Rights organisations and UN Security Council investigators have accused the UAE of funnelling weapons and support to the RSF throughout Sudan’s bloody, three-year civil war, which has displaced an estimated 13 million people and has left hundreds of thousands feared dead. The UAE denies supporting the paramilitary group.
At least 6,000 people were killed in three days in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state last October during RSF attacks that UN investigators said bore “hallmarks of genocide”.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by FGS, or any members of the House of Lords working for FGS. The firm told Middle East Eye that no members of the House of Lords were involved in its work for the UAE.
A spokesperson for FGS said: "FGS Global and its colleagues are fully aware of their rules and obligations regarding disclosure, advocacy and transparency and comply accordingly. No members of the House of Lords associated with FGS Global work on the UAE client account.”
'The rules should require peers to choose: keep their seat in the Lords, or keep their interests in the lobbying industry'
- Steve Goodrich, Transparency International UK
But human rights and transparency campaigners said the arrangement raised questions about the appropriateness of parliamentarians working for firms engaged in lobbying on behalf of foreign states.
Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, told MEE: “When members of the House of Lords hold senior roles at firms lobbying for foreign governments, it's hard to know whose interests are being represented.
"Peers are in Parliament to serve the public, not to open doors for paying clients,” he added.
“The rules should require peers to choose: keep their seat in the Lords, or keep their interests in the lobbying industry.”
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK's crisis response manager, also raised concerns.
“All parliamentarians should consider very carefully who they work with and for, especially companies registered to work for governments involved in serious violations of international law,” she said.
Debbonaire, who was given a peerage in 2024 by Prime Minister Keir Starmer after she lost her Bristol West parliamentary seat to the Green Party’s Carla Denyer, previously called for a ban on members of the House of Commons holding second jobs.
During a debate on parliamentary standards in 2021, Debbonaire railed against “egregious acts of paid lobbying,” telling the UK parliament that “MPs should not be for sale”.
“We are elected to Parliament on a promise to work for the greater good not of ourselves, but of our constituents and our country,” she added.
Debbonaire also raised concerns about foreign influence in UK democracy in 2024 amid a proposed UAE-led takeover of the Telegraph newspaper and the Spectator magazine.
“This is a bid by a foreign power, funded by the deputy prime minister of the UAE, and as such this bid should not pass,” she told the Spectator in March 2024.
Acoba, the UK's now-defunct advisory committee on business appointments of ex-officials, cleared Baroness Porter's appointment to FGS in 2023.
It stated that the "the committee’s advice is that she should have no direct engagement with the government on behalf of FGS or its clients".
MEE contacted Debbonaire, Porter and Cooper for comment.
Lobbying blitz
FGS donated over £27,000 to the Labour Party in 2024, with some of the money used to second an FGS staff member, Kamella Hudson, as an election campaign adviser to Rachel Reeves, now chancellor of the Exchequer.
Hudson was accused of arranging meetings between ministers and the Chinese fast-fashion firm Shein – then also a client of FGS – in 2024.
FGS' Labour donations also helped fund a drinks reception following Reeves’ Labour Party conference speech in 2024, according to the I Newspaper.
According to UK government records, FGS entered into a contract with the UAE in August 2024, and first lobbied UK politicians on behalf of the UAE in October 2025.
The UK government has been criticised by human rights organisations for continuing arms sales to the UAE despite being told at the UN Security Council that UK-manufactured arms were being used by the RSF in Sudan, with the UAE covertly acting as an intermediary. Sudan has faced a full UN arms embargo since 2024.
Arms exports from the UK to the UAE licensed in 2025 included components for military vehicles, components for drones and gun silencers, according to UK government data.
Benedict told MEE that “the UAE has been a known hub for arms diversion for years and the UK government has long been aware of weapons being routed through the Emirates to conflict zones like Sudan and Libya.
“The UK government has committed to help end the conflict in Sudan and to work to prevent atrocities, but it still hasn’t suspended all arms sales to the UAE, which it must do immediately,” she said.
The UAE has upscaled its multinational lobbying push amid a major fallout with its erstwhile ally, Saudi Arabia, over the UAE’s controversial backing of secessionist movements in Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.
Lobbying for Ellison's Oracle
FGS has also registered as a lobbyist for the Gulf state in the US, where it has also represented the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland.
According to contract agreements disclosed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, FGS was enlisted by the UAE “to influence US policy with respect to bilateral relations, such as trade and investment matters, geopolitical strategic issues, and cultural programs.
“This will include meeting with government policy makers and opinion leaders, outreach to media, think tanks, public policy and trade organizations, business leaders, issue experts and academics,” the contract adds.
The most recent disclosures on the UK’s registrar of consultant lobbyists state that FGS’s other UK clients include Oracle, the US tech multinational co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison with strong ties to the Trump administration.
Oracle has provided significant funding to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a think tank founded and chaired by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The think tank attracted controversy in February 2025 when it emerged that its staff members were involved in drafting plans for a post-war Gaza dubbed the “Trump Riviera” that appeared to condone ethnic cleansing of the territory’s Palestinian population.
Blair now serves as an executive on US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”, which is set to govern the besieged enclave following the planned cessation of Israeli hostilities.
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