Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has slammed the “catastrophe” Brexit vote as “pushing back against globalisation”, whilst also praising an autocratic Sharia state as a role model for the rest of the world.

Mr. Blair said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “is leading the way” and called on the UK to copy their education system in a lecture in the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, the UAE’s The Nation reports.

The UAE is an undemocratic theocratic monarchy, where Sharia courts regularly sentence Muslims and non-Muslims to flogging and imprisonment for “crimes” such as of drinking, adultery, and prostitution.

In 2015, it was reported that the oil-rich Gulf state was paying his consultancy firm, Tony Blair Associates, to advise on Columbia mining deals.

The former Prime Minister is reckoned to be worth between £50 million and £100 million, with several houses and a country estate among his assets.

“Brexit is a catastrophe for Britain,” Mr. Blair also claimed in the lecture, insisting that people only voted against the European Union (EU) because they were uneducated.

“[Education is] the single most important way to prepare societies for globalisation. We need a commitment to it like the one we have on climate change”, he said.

He also suggested the Brexit vote was pushed by an unholy alliance of the far left and far right, both of which were increasing their political influence in the West.

“Both are against free trade, immigration and an opening of their societies [and] are pushing back against globalisation. They see the change and feel powerless to stop it.”

In the lead up to the referendum, in March, Mr. Blair was characteristically dismissive of the negative effects of globalisation and mass migration.

He told unemployed British workers “not to blame migrants for having taken your job” and instructed them to get a better education instead so they can “operate in the modern world”.