British newspaper deal seen as a battle for the Tories' hearts

The Daily Telegraph has long been seen as the house newspaper of the British Conservative Party. So it is perhaps unsurprising that a takeover battle for the 168-year-old newspaper has turned into a political battle within Tory ranks – a battle that some commentators have even labeled a battle for the future of the party.

On the one hand, an Arab-American group is trying to complete its takeover of the Telegraph Media Group. It is led by Jeff Zucker, a former president of CNN, and backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family.

On the other side is a potential spoiler, Paul Marshall, a right-wing hedge fund founder who has bankrolled GB News, a start-up television news channel that has emerged as a kind of ambitious Fox News, providing a platform for far-right Tory lawmakers like Jacob Rees -Mogg and populist rabble-rousers like Nigel Farage.

Mr Zucker's group, RedBird IMI, has sought regulatory approval to acquire The Telegraph and sister commentary magazine The Spectator. But objections to allowing a foreign state entity – one with a questionable record on press freedom and the protection of civil liberties – to take control of one of Britain's most influential newspapers have bogged down these efforts.

On Friday, the British government postponed a decision on whether to greenlight or block the deal, which saw The Telegraph's previous owners, the Barclay brothers, hand control of the company to RedBird IMI in return for the 1.16 billion repayment pound ($1.47 billion). ) in Barclay debt.

Analysts said the delay, until March 11, could help the Emirati-backed group strengthen its case for being a responsible, hands-off owner. It has submitted a new corporate structure, which emphasizes that the Emirates would be passive investors. But the government's review of this structure could also give Marshall time to build support for a competing bid.

Either way, the delay will prolong a power struggle that has attracted a slew of Britain's most prominent right-wing politicians, not to mention some of its most visible media figures. All this is set against the backdrop of an unpopular Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, facing lawmakers nervous about losing their seats in the election later this year.

“This is the first media deal in many years that is becoming a battle within the Tory party, but also within the newspaper itself,” said Claire Enders, a London-based media analyst and founder of Enders Analysis. “The fight is bizarre for what appears to the Tory Party to be its heart and soul.”

Charles Moore, a columnist and former editor of The Telegraph who is against the RedBird deal, said: “It is a clash within the Tory party and the government over how much this matters, and whether they should improve the offer can accept, since the Arabs are major investors in the country.”

The takeover has divided the Conservative Party along familiar lines, between its more centrist establishment, much of which is open to the Emirati-backed offer, and its right-wing flank, which leans towards Marshall.

For example, RedBird Capital has recruited two former finance ministers, George Osborne and Nadhim Zahawi, to advise it. But it also has outspoken opponents, including Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party.

In November, Mr Duncan Smith told The Observer: “I would be very concerned if any of the papers in Britain came under the control of someone in the Middle East. It just seems bizarre to me.”

There is also fierce opposition to the deal at the top of The Telegraph and The Spectator. Andrew Neil, a prominent broadcaster and chairman of The Spectator, told the BBC on Thursday: “If RedBird takes over, I'm out.”

In a subsequent interview, Mr. Neil said that RedBird's attempt to change its corporate structure was a miscalculation.

“All that has happened is the government has said, in that case we have to start the whole regulatory process again,” Mr Neil said. “They really are the gang who can't shoot straight and show their complete ignorance of Britain at every turn.”

Fraser Nelson, the editor of The Spectator, wrote in a column for The Telegraph on Friday that passing the Emirati-backed deal would be a victory for Russia because the Emirates, even though they are allies of Britain, are also ” proud, flagrant' brandishing 'best friends' of Putin.” He continued: “Should this give us pause?”

Others, however, argue that the intense scrutiny of RedBird would make it difficult for the new owner to interfere too much with the paper's reporting. The group has proposed introducing an editorial charter, saying it would ensure the paper's independence.

A spokesperson for RedBird IMI said the “group remains committed to acquiring and investing in The Telegraph, and reiterates that maintaining the newspaper's editorial independence is essential to protecting its reputation, credibility and value.”

Under Mr Marshall's leadership, analysts say, the paper would most likely become closer to GB News, which promotes the right flank of the Conservative Party, and to populist figures such as Mr Farage, who remains closely associated with an anti-immigration party . , Reform UK, which he helped found.

“GB News is a political project,” says Peter Oborne, former chief political commentator for The Telegraph. “They are about influencing British politics and promoting the interests of very wealthy people.”

As the battle for its ownership rages, The Telegraph's political reporting is causing a stir. The newspaper recently published a column by a former minister, Simon Clarke, calling on fellow Conservatives to oust Mr Sunak as party leader or face electoral destruction later this year.

Clarke's column came days after a poll, commissioned by The Telegraph and commissioned by public opinion research firm YouGov, predicted that the opposition Labor party would win power over the Conservatives in a general election by a margin comparable to Labour's dramatic landslide in 1997.

The poll predicted the Conservatives would lose every seat in Labour's old “red wall” stronghold they won under Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019. And it said almost a dozen ministers, including current Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, would lose their seats.

That The Telegraph stonewalled Mr Sunak while his ministers were assessing the paper's sales came as a mystery to some observers. But former Telegraph employees said the decision was emblematic of the paper's independently minded editor, Chris Evans, who has kept his distance from the drama swirling around the company.

By provoking Mr Sunak, some said, The Telegraph was also making clear that it was a force. Although the newspaper's close ties to the party have turned its fortunes into a Tory drama, some argue that the party's role is ultimately a side issue.

“I have never seen the Tory Party, unlike the Government, control who can buy a newspaper, other than insisting that some are unsuitable,” Mr Neil said. “Sometimes they manage to blackball; sometimes not. It's not their decision.”