Anti-Dubai bile in British press not shared by UK government

Following on the heels of the journalistic stampede noted in samuraisam's post comes this from AMEInfo:

The government of Great Britain does not share the pessimistic and rather vitriolic view of Dubai that appeared in some sections of the British press in the wake of the global financial crisis, asserted John Wilkes, an official spokesperson for the UK government in a press conference at Dubai Press Club yesterday.
...
Wilkes was speaking to the media on the ongoing visit to the region by Peter Mendelson, the British Secretary of State for Business, accompanied by a large delegation consisting of top government officials and business leaders.

The high level British delegation reached Abu Dhabi yesterday and is scheduled to visit Dubai today. 'Great Britain considers the business and other relations with the GCC countries as exceptionally important, particularly in light of the current financial crisis. Dubai and the gulf region are better equipped to deal with the crisis than many other parts of the world on account of the region's enormous financial and natural resources. The UAE is the third largest market in the GCC for British businesses,' said Wilkes.

Read it all here.

7Days adds:

The UK government has said it does not support attacks on Dubai by the British press. Government spokesman John Wilkes branded some recent media coverage of Dubai as “rather vitriolic” and said it did not share the “pessimistic” view of the emirate that has been portrayed in some sections of the UK press.