The vice president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will not be able to take control of the Daily Telegraph, the major right-wing British daily. The British government announced on Wednesday March 13 that it would table a legislative amendment to prohibit any acquisition of a newspaper or magazine by a “Foreign state”including the “agents of foreign governments who operate in a private capacity”. This particularly precise definition targets Sheikh Mansour Ben Zayed, from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, and vice-president of the UAE, who launched an offer for the daily in November 2023.
“Acquisition of British media company by foreign states risks eroding trust [des lecteurs], explains Stephen Parkinson, Under-Secretary of State for Culture and Media of the United Kingdom. All foreign states have their own interests, which is entirely understandable, and these are not necessarily compatible with British interests. »
The decision ends months of controversy surrounding the sale of the Daily Telegraphwhich is to the British media landscape what Le Figaro is France’s. The Barclay family, which had owned it since 2004, was close to bankruptcy and defaulted on part of its debts. In the summer of 2023, its creditor bank, Lloyds Banking Group, decided to seize the newspaper, as well as the weekly The Spectatoralso very influential in conservative circles, and put them up for sale.
In December 2023, the bank accepted an offer made jointly by IMI, a private fund owned by Sheikh Mansour (also owner of the Manchester City football team), and RedBird, an American private equity fund led by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker. IMI owns 75% of the joint venture.
Risks against editorial independence
This acquisition provoked an outcry. Nearly 150 deputies, mainly conservatives, publicly made their opposition known. The current management of the daily and the magazine also led the fight, denouncing the risks to their editorial independence. “If governments start owning a newspaper, whether it is the British government, or a European or Arab government, freedom of the press would be mortally compromised”estimates Fraser Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Spectator.
The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, initially believed that the current powers of the British state were sufficient to block the acquisition. He referred the matter to the Office of Communications, the media regulator, and the Competition and Markets Authority, which had to decide on the subject. But for many British elected officials, the protection was insufficient.
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