.png)
7 hours ago
3
One weekend, it will be the straightforward delights of Skegness seafront; the next, the flashy private beach clubs of Dubai.
Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK and its MP for Boston and Skegness, is splitting his time not just between his Lincolnshire constituency and the House of Commons, but is also spending time 3,500 miles away in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “We are spreading our international reach,” he said.
The Observer has established that some months ago his partner, the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, moved out to Dubai with her children.
The couple are still very much “an item”, both insist, and are now seeing each other whenever time and Emirates airlines allow. “She has been based out there for a few months … I occasionally go there and she occasionally comes here,” said Tice.
Tice was elected just six months ago as one of five MPs sitting for Reform UK, the successor to Ukip, which is now storming ahead of the Tories in the polls.
He insists he is totally committed to his constituency and to his work in the Commons, pointing out that he is in the top 10 of speakers from the backbenches.
But lessons, he said, can be learned from international experience and from the successes of the UAE.
“My family built their first ever skyscraper in Dubai in the mid-70s so we have known the place for a long time. I first went there in the early 90s. Its growth is amazing,” he said.
By contrast the UK, he added, is on the slide. So he is working in parliament to try to save it.
He said: “The problem with this place is that it is going to hell in a handcart under this government and as long as we pursue these policies of high tax, high regulation and net zero we are not going to grow. Smart people are leaving the country. It is as tragic as that.”
after newsletter promotion
Oakeshott, who is working from Dubai as international editor at Talk TV and as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, said that Labour’s “pernicious tax on private schools” prompted her to look elsewhere for the best places to educate her children. The UAE, she said, offered “endless opportunities” and had a “booming economy”.
She added: “I continue to support Richard in every possible way as we pursue our shared ambition for a thriving Britain from which wealth creators and so many others are not tempted to flee.”
Asked whether the couple had invited the leader of Reform, Nigel Farage, out to Dubai for a visit, Tice said: “No, he is quite busy. He has got various other international obligations.”
