The UK’s culture and media secretary has stepped in to examine the sale of the Daily Telegraph and Spectator magazine to a company backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family. The titles were taken over by Lloyds Bank after the owners, the Barclay family, failed to pay off their £1.1bn debt. After the debt was paid, it was expected the titles would quickly pass on to the new owners.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, best known in the UK for owning Manchester City football club, has backed RedBird IMI, the investment consortium seeking control of the Telegraph and the Spectator. The consortium is run by former CNN president Jeff Zucker, who has defended the editorial independence of the titles under Gulf ownership.
Though the Secretary of State, Lucy Frazer, did not deem it appropriate to intervene in the payment transaction, she has confirmed that the government and regulators need to scrutinize the transfer of such politically significant titles to essentially a foreign power. The sale has also raised concerns among former editors, politicians, and grassroots conservatives.
While the UK has previously allowed figures like convicted fraudster Conrad Black and the son of a former KGB agent to own newspapers, the involvement of a foreign state alongside a conservative-leaning paper makes these circumstances unique. Despite the risks involved in wiring the money to Lloyds, Sheikh Mansour seems to be willing to take the risk.
Overall, the sale of the Daily Telegraph and Spectator to a company backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family has drawn attention from UK regulators and raised concerns among some political figures and the public
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