London's great millionaire exodus

JONATHAN PRYNN

- The rich are fleeing under Labour - and it'll leave the capital poorer

He waved his hand in the direction of an empty car park next to the office on AI Maryah Island where we were meeting. It was, explained His Excellency Hareb AI Mheiri, a director at the Abu Dhabi department of economic development, the site chosen for the emirate's first "Mayfair-style" private members' club.

When the deal is agreed, it is likely to be a British-backed investment or a British brandwho knows, perhaps an outpost of Soho House itself, although Hareb was not telling.

Abu Dhabi, along with its fellow emirate Dubai, wants a slice of the British millionaire exodus action. Its rulers understand that the wealthy families pouring out of London have certain lifestyle requirements the fast-growing Gulf city state cannot currently offer. Private members' clubs are one. Top British public schools of the sort admired the world over are another. To that end, Harrow is scheduled to open a school there next year, along with another in Dubai.

This is the flipside of the well publicised "gold rush" of millionaires leaving London in record numbers. The capital is no longer seen as a friendly, welcoming haven for the high-spending super-rich in the way that it undoubtedly was a decade ago.

London's loss is other cities' gain - hence the huge efforts being made in Europe, the Middle East and Asia to attract leavers through lures such as golden visa schemes, as well as those trappings of W1 life coming soon to Abu Dhabi.

The reality is that London has been slowly falling out of favour for more than a decade.