Tory peers rebel over UAE stake in The Telegraph
Tory peers are poised to defy their party leadership and seek to block a deal to hand the United Arab Emirates a stake in The Telegraph.
A split has emerged since Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said last week that she would change the law to allow foreign states to own up to 15pc of British newspapers.
The threshold is three times the figure proposed and consulted on by the Conservatives last year before the general election and after they had blocked the sale of The Telegraph to RedBird IMI, a vehicle 75pc bankrolled by the UAE.
Julia Lopez, a close ally of Kemi Badenoch and media minister at the time, quickly attacked the Labour decision to amend last year's primary legislation so significantly as a 'sell-out'.
However, Stuart Andrew, Ms Nandy's Conservative shadow, then announced that the Conservatives would support the changes.
Mr Andrew said: 'We believe that the proposed 15pc threshold seems reasonable as it is combined with a new duty on the Secretary of State, which will safeguard editorial independence.'
The signs of a Tory split were confirmed by shadow cabinet sources who questioned the wisdom of Mr Andrew's intervention.
It came as RedBird Capital, the US private equity firm which is the junior partner in RedBird IMI, attempts to lead a new consortium to acquire The Telegraph and end two years of damaging limbo.
The UAE is expected to seek to retain a 15pc stake alongside other minority investors.
Now, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers, the Lords equivalent of the backbench 1922 Committee, has launched a rebellion against party policy with a scathing attack on Ms Nandy's plans.
He accused her of a 'surrender' to lobbying that opens the door to any foreign state 'however odious their regime'.
He said he will take the unusual step of supporting a Liberal Democrat 'fatal motion' to stop them becoming law. Statutory instruments are typically waved through the Commons but can face debate and an obstructive – but not decisive – vote in the Lords.
Writing for The Telegraph, Lord Forsyth said: 'Allowing foreign governments to hold stakes in national newspapers is a systemic threat to a free press and a free press is a necessary condition for a free country.
'The Government's proposals … open the door to state-funded media and undermine independent journalism. At a time of great geopolitical upheaval, the Government should be strengthening media independence, not trading it away for foreign capital.
'Now Parliament must act to reassert the protections enshrined in the legislation and make it clear that foreign governments have no place in ownership of our national media.'
The proposed legislation prohibits foreign states from active involvement in newspapers, but Lord Forsyth warned it would be 'utterly naive to believe that a 15pc holding would not result in a degree of influence'.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston, who played a crucial role in collaboration with Lord Forsyth and peers of all main parties in forcing Rishi Sunak to intervene against RedBird IMI's attempted takeover, said she would not support the fatal motion.
She has instead tabled a less potent 'motion of regret' expressing disappointment with the level of the threshold and the fact that the legislation effectively makes Ms Nandy the guarantor of The Telegraph's independence.
If she has reason to believe the UAE is interfering she will have a duty to trigger an investigation and powers to force it to exit the investment.
Baroness Stowell said: 'I'm concerned about any threat to the general principle that foreign states should not be involved in our independent press.
'I'm also disappointed in what the Government has proposed but this was always going to be difficult legislation.
'I won't support a fatal motion but I want to mark the Secretary of State's card that I will be watching closely and holding her to her statutory duty to protect press freedom.'
A vote in the Lords is expected in the next few weeks.
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