‘That’s the way the city works’: how the UAE changed the face of Andy Burnham’s Manchester

The story of the emirates’ presence in Manchester winds from the Arab Spring to some of the most deprived places in England – with complicated results

• Emirati-linked firms’ ownership of Manchester land ‘up 39%’ in 10 years
  
  

When Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-ruling dictator, was toppled from power in the Arab spring protests of 2011, his downfall sent shock waves across the Middle East. It also helped change the face of modern Manchester.

Mubarak’s successor, the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, was a sworn enemy of the United Arab Emirates, whose rulers feared the advance of Morsi’s Islamism.