Kevin Maguire had a message for ‘ex-pats’ fleeing Dubai and it wasn’t just Good Morning Britain viewers cheering

As the Middle East topples on the precipice in the wake of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, many Brits who moved to Dubai for a sunnier and less taxing lifestyle find themselves in urgent need of a flight home.

But sympathy wasn’t entirely overflowing for those people who had constantly wanged on about their Dubai lifestyle, not least those insisting how much ‘safer’ it is than London and how much of their pay packet (basically all of it) they now get to keep.

The Telegraph on Monday highlighted one particularly awful phenomenon of people willing to leave their pets behind as they sought the quickest possible exit, and regular guest pundit, the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire, had a message for these people.

Susanna Reid on #GMB discussing a story in the Telegraph: “expats fleeing Dubai are abandoning their pets as they rush to leave the Gulf”

As Kevin Maguire asks, “What type of people are they?”. He also points out they’re not expats, they’re British migrants. pic.twitter.com/qtOmY3cD6J

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 9, 2026

Well said, that man (and the less said about that bloke sitting next to him, the better).

And these people liked it just as much as we did.

1.

Lol, why do the British get so precious about being referred to as migrants? They’re economic migrants ffs 🙄🤣

— Miss Chief 🤨 (@Midge1415) March 9, 2026

2.

About fucking time someone called this ridiculous double standard out.

And is that Kwarteng covering himself in ridicule again by arguing there is a difference between expats and migrants? https://t.co/9bfLTcy1Vy

— The Purple Pimpernel (@Eyeswideopen69) March 9, 2026

3.

About fucking time someone called this ridiculous double standard out.

And is that Kwarteng covering himself in ridicule again by arguing there is a difference between expats and migrants?

— The Purple Pimpernel (@Eyeswideopen69) March 9, 2026

4.

“They’re UK migrants – not “expats” !”

At last a UK journalist calls it out ! Giving us 5,5 million British people living in other people’s countries a “nice” name so you get to keep the negative term for people who do the same in 🇬🇧is total “othering”
👏👏@Kevin_Maguire @GMB pic.twitter.com/mHG6JrgLbN

— Alex Taylor (@AlexTaylorNews) March 9, 2026

5.

100% this – will trigger those who cannot get their heads around the concept 🤣 https://t.co/jKUkebsyVP

— dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 (@dave43law) March 9, 2026

6.

YES! So glad to see someone calling them British Migrants & not expats. Expats screams entitlement & is a word that needs burying imo

— CodaQueen (@CodaQueen) March 9, 2026