Traditional affinity between Conservatives and the newspaper has given way to a complex, splintered drama, and the attempted acquisition by Gulf-backed RedBird IMI lies in limbo
The UK government has in effect blocked the takeover by RedBird IMI after heavy lobbying on the newspaper’s own pages.The UK government has in effect blocked the takeover by RedBird IMI after heavy lobbying on the newspaper’s own pages.With the Conservative party trailing Labour by nearly 20 points in the polls, it needs all the help it can get if it is going to have a fighting chance at the next election.
Insiders say the saga reveals much about the Conservative party and the prime minister himself, as they stare down the barrel of a humiliating election defeat that could reshape the UK’s political landscape and tear apart its oldest political party.
Rather than throw its name into the hat to buy the publications, RedBird IMI and its frontman Zucker announced in November it hadthey needed to pay off their loan to Lloyds, in effect buying their debt. The result of this was to bring the Telegraph newspapers and Spectator out of receivership and halt the sale process. It looked like a coup.
Three days later, on 27 November, Sunak met representatives of the Abu Dhabi and Mubadala investment companies, according to aNo 10 was reluctant to get involved in the dispute at first, viewing the matter as a commercial dispute. A desire not to harm relations with the UAE – a key investor in everything from windfarms to football clubs – was another factor. A Tory aide who helped coordinate opposition to the deal said: “They wanted to do this in a delicate way.
“And secondly, I think he didn’t want to insult the Abu Dhabi royal family directly because they’d done so much when he was mayor of London to advance various infrastructure projects … He felt sort of beholden to them because of that. He wanted them to lose, but didn’t want to pile it on.” A spokesperson for Johnson said he had not been involved and any claims to the contrary were “phantasmagorical speculation”.
Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator, said: “It was a case of parliament versus the government and the government had had no option but to cede.” He added: “If you accept freedom of the press as a principle that most democracies hold dear, then governments should not own newspapers full stop.”RedBird IMI has been given until Tuesday to respond before Frazer refers its bid to the competition watchdog. To understand what may happen next, it is worth going back to the first PIIN she issued.
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