Windsorian, of course Emirates would make the case for fewer short haul flights at LHR, that would free up capacity at LHR and also push people on to Emirates' own services from other UK and European airports.
It can easily be argued that it is in Emirates, and other airlines similarly placed, interests for LHR to forego it's hub status.........they would prefer........wait for it.........for Dubai (Abu Dhabi etc) to be the hub people in the UK use when flying eastbound.