Aiken hosted Abu Dhabi party last year

ALEX AIKEN, the Government’s executive director of communications who is to join the UAE foreign ministry hosted a 20-person official delegation from Abu Dhabi last May.

Mr Aiken opened a day of speaking events, including how to handle crisis communications, for UAE officials in the Grade I listed Admiralty House.

The gathering on May 15 2023 was part of a wider visit from the UAE government which saw its foreign ministers meet James Cleverly, the then foreign secretary.

A government insider said Mr Aiken had “rolled out the red carpet” for the UAE, which less than a year later would be announced as his new employer.

A Cabinet Office source said Mr Aiken was not approached about a job until “much later”.

The Telegraph faces an attempted takeover by Redbird IMI, a fund 75 per cent financed by the UAE. Ministers have the power to block the deal.

The results of an investigation by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority is due to be handed to the Culture Department next month.

Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Mr Aiken taking a paid position with the UAE given the country’s lack of democracy and differing values to the UK.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said of the May 15 event: “Governments regularly host routine exchanges between officials.”

Rishi Sunak has been ridiculed on social media after he appeared in a new campaign video. In the short clip, the Prime Minister used a flip chart to talk ‘about what’s going on in the economy and the plan we’re working towards’.