Latest news with #FraserNelson
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Daily Mail-owner Rothermere eyes minority Telegraph stake in RedBird deal
The publisher of the Daily Mail has held talks in recent days about taking a minority stake in the Telegraph newspapers as part of a deal to end the two-year impasse over their ownership. Sky News has learnt that Lord Rothermere, who controls Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), was in detailed negotiations late last week which would have seen him taking a 9.9% stake in the Telegraph titles. It was unclear on Monday whether the talks were still live or whether they would result in a deal, with one adviser suggesting that the discussions may have faltered. One insider said that if DMGT did acquire a stake in the Telegraph, the transaction would be used as a platform to explore the sharing of costs across the two companies. They would, however, remain editorially independent. Sources said that RedBird and IMI, whose joint venture owns a call option to convert debt secured against the Telegraph into equity, were hoping to announce a deal for the future ownership of the media group this week, potentially on Thursday. However, the insider suggested that a transaction could yet be struck without any involvement from DMGT. The progress in the talks to seal new ownership for the right-leaning titles comes days after the government said it would allow foreign state investors to hold stakes of up to 15% in British national newspapers. That would pave the way for Abu Dhabi royal family-controlled IMI to own 15% of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph - a prospect which has sparked outrage from critics including the former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson. The decision to set the ownership threshold at 15% follows an intensive lobbying campaign by newspaper industry executives concerned that a permanent outright ban could cut off a vital source of funding to an already-embattled industry. RedBird Capital, the US-based fund, has already said it is exploring the possibility of taking full control of the Telegraph, while IMI would have - if the status quo had been maintained - been forced to relinquish any involvement in the right-leaning broadsheets. Other than RedBird, a number of suitors for the Telegraph have expressed interest but struggled to raise the funding for a deal. The most notable of these has been Dovid Efune, owner of The New York Sun, who has been trying for months to raise the £550m sought by RedBird IMI to recoup its outlay. On Sunday, the Financial Times reported that Mr Efune has secured backing from Jeremy Hosking, the prominent City investor. Another potential offer from Todd Boehly, the Chelsea Football Club co-owner, and media tycoon David Montgomery, has failed to materialise. RedBird IMI paid £600m in 2023 to acquire a call option that was intended to convert into ownership of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine. That objective was thwarted by a change in media ownership laws - which banned any form of foreign state ownership - amid an outcry from parliamentarians. The Spectator was then sold last year for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund billionaire, who has installed Lord Gove, the former cabinet minister, as its editor. The UAE-based IMI, which is controlled by the UAE's deputy prime minister and ultimate owner of Manchester City Football Club, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, extended a further £600m to the Barclays to pay off a loan owed to Lloyds Banking Group, with the balance secured against other family-controlled assets. Other bidders for the Telegraph had included Lord Saatchi, the former advertising mogul, who offered £350m, while Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail proprietor, pulled out of the bidding for control of his rival's titles last summer amid concerns that he would be blocked on competition grounds. The Telegraph's ownership had been left in limbo by a decision taken by Lloyds Banking Group, the principal lender to the Barclay family, to force some of the newspapers' related corporate entities into a form of insolvency proceedings. DMGT, RedBird and IMI all declined to comment.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
UAE delegation visited No 10 before law change that paves way for stake in Telegraph
A delegation from the United Arab Emirates met Downing Street officials weeks before ministers announced a law change that allows the state to take a 15% stake in the Telegraph titles, the Guardian understands. Ministers disclosed the cap this week as part of a long-awaited clarification on the rules around state ownership of British newspapers. It is higher than the 5-10% ceiling envisaged by the previous Conservative government. It has now emerged that a few weeks earlier in March, a senior Emirati delegation held a meeting in No 10 with officials including Varun Chandra, the business adviser to Keir Starmer. While details of the meeting are unknown, it is understood the delegation sought clarity on the state ownership law. Downing Street and IMI declined to comment. The UAE government has been approached for comment. The move effectively paves the way for the United Arab Emirates to take a 15% stake in the Telegraph, most likely through the IMI investment vehicle backed by Abu Dhabi. The law change ends a lengthy consultation involving intensive lobbying by newspaper owners. It is also a sign of Downing Street's desperate search for economic growth and determination to make the UK an attractive place for overseas investment. However, the decision has come under attack from MPs and industry figures for opening up the British media to more state ownership. Fraser Nelson, a former editor of the Spectator and current Times columnist, described the decision as an 'indefensible sellout, in defiance of parliament's vote to protect press freedom'. Andrew Neil, a former Sunday Times editor, said Lisa Nandy should lose her job over the decision. The Liberal Democrats are also opposing the new law and will launch an attempt to block it in the House of Lords with a so-called 'fatal motion'. The tactic is likely to split the Conservative party. Max Wilkinson, the Lib Dem culture spokesperson, said the plan put editorial independence 'at risk'. 'It's a plan we wholeheartedly reject,' he said. 'No 10 must come clean on their meeting with UAE delegates, and clarify whether they were lobbied to roll back on what parliament agreed last year.' Should the law change go through as expected, it marks the beginning of the end for the Telegraph's ownership saga, which has rumbled on for two years. The Telegraph titles were originally bought by RedBird IMI, a UAE-backed venture that was blocked from taking control by the last government. Under the new law, RedBird Capital, a US private equity firm, is expected to buy the Telegraph, with 15% of the money coming from IMI, which is linked to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirati royal. RedBird is also said to be talking to other possible British investors in the deal. A mooted attempt to buy the Telegraph by the Chelsea FC owner and chair Todd Boehly and the Fleet Street veteran David Montgomery has not materialised. While there has been significant interest in the Telegraph from other groups, the asking price of £500m has proved too high for most. In 2023, Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail and General Trust had been involved in talks with Qatari investors over a potential bid, but subsequently pulled out. However, the peer still has contacts in the region. This week, Rothermere was among the high-profile media figures spotted in Doha meeting president Trump and the Qatari emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. His group's events business is understood to be prominent in the region. Others in the party included Piers Morgan, who now owns and runs his own YouTube channel, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, the medical investor and Los Angeles Times owner. Industry sources said that the UAE delegation was not the only group to have been seeking clarity on the laws around media ownership by foreign states. Other media groups were also said to have concerns over a ban on state ownership, or a very low ceiling on such ownership. It is a sign of the financial strains the media world is under, as print sales decline and the digital revolution has brought huge change, with previously different kinds of media groups now competing with each other online. The development of AI is also seen as an opportunity as well as a threat by media executives, and the Gulf states have significant money to invest.
Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Times letters: Voters seeking revenge on the lanyard class
Write to letters@ Sir, Janice Turner criticises the mindset of leaders who think they always know best ('Voters are sick of lectures from lanyard class', May 10). Instead of trying to win back trust by protesting their authenticity, leaders might heed the new Pope's lesson in humility. As Fraser Nelson writes ('Calm, unflashy Pope is just what world needs', May 10), Leo describes himself as a 'faithful administrator'. This evokes the ideal of a public servant who doesn't claim to have all the answers but empowers the people who do know what works best when it comes to creating a good school environment, running a business, setting up a food bank or steering young people away from gangs. Our democracy is
Telegraph
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Integration is a futile delusion when people cannot speak our language
With the recent discovery that more than a million people either have poor English-speaking skills or none, it is time to admit that modern Britain is not quite the paragon of migrant integration that some would lead us to believe. According to the 2021 census for England and Wales, 880,000 people could not speak English well. A further 161,000 don't speak English at all. Hotspots include the city of Leicester in the East Midlands and the eastern London Borough of Newham. Closer inspection reveals that in areas of Leicester such as Spinney Hill Road and Belgrave South, more than a quarter of the residents cannot speak English or speak it well. Leicester, once considered a jewel in Britain's multicultural crown, is fast becoming a failed city in terms of integration – with the large-scale disorder in its eastern parts back in 2022 a watershed moment for community relations. While Britain may be a more successful multi-ethnic democracy than European counterparts such as France, this is a spectacularly low bar. There is no doubt that there are ethnic-minority families which represent the best of Britain – serious about academic achievement, entrepreneurial, family-oriented and devoted to civic life. Many of these families will take an interest in their countries of origin and hold their non-Christian faith dearly – but they are also patriotic and appreciative of the freedoms bestowed by British democracy. I suspect it is these kinds of families and communities that the likes of Fraser Nelson have in mind when they refer to Britain as an ' integration miracle '. But the portrait of modern Britain is much more complicated than that. While recent studies show that segregation is at an all-time low in much of Britain (and certainly lower when compared to countries like the United States), it remains a problem in cities such as Leicester and a string of post-industrial towns across northern England. While there is much outrage over the unprecedented level of newcomers arriving in the post-Brexit era, there are people who have lived in Britain for decades and can barely speak English. It is true that previous governments such as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition have slashed funding for English language classes – but integration is a two-way street. The reality is that there are ethnic 'enclaves' which are separated from the mainstream – with their own specific cultural and religious amenities, as well as access to foreign-language media and entertainment. In some of these enclaves, there is little desire to integrate – even if English language tuition was readily available on their doorsteps. The residents of such areas may live in Britain in a physical sense, but their hearts and minds are elsewhere. While there is an unhealthy reliance on state-funded translation services when it comes to interacting with sectors such as education and healthcare, younger and British-born bilingual relatives can also be depended on for occasions such as parents' evenings and medical appointments. It could be argued that none of this really matters. If these enclaves are generally respectful of the law, who cares if the people who live within them don't speak good English? But segregated areas of Britain with relatively low levels of English language proficiency are less likely to have a sound understanding of social, economic, cultural and legal norms that underpin our country. This can lead to forms of anti-social behaviour which may be more acceptable in their place of origin, but rub others – including members of the white-British ethnic majority and well-integrated migrants – the wrong way. At its very worst, the people within these enclaves are susceptible to extremism. Integration is a two-way street, but the reality is that the British state has no robust strategy for it: a significant number of people are only too happy to exist in their ethno-religious silos. And the results down the road may not be pretty for the rest of us.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Integration is a futile delusion when people cannot speak our language
With the recent discovery that more than a million people either have poor English-speaking skills or none, it is time to admit that modern Britain is not quite the paragon of migrant integration that some would lead us to believe. According to the 2021 census for England and Wales, 880,000 people could not speak English well. A further 161,000 don't speak English at all. Hotspots include the city of Leicester in the East Midlands and the eastern London Borough of Newham. Closer inspection reveals that in areas of Leicester such as Spinney Hill Road and Belgrave South, more than a quarter of the residents cannot speak English or speak it well. Leicester, once considered a jewel in Britain's multicultural crown, is fast becoming a failed city in terms of integration – with the large-scale disorder in its eastern parts back in 2022 a watershed moment for community relations. While Britain may be a more successful multi-ethnic democracy than European counterparts such as France, this is a spectacularly low bar. There is no doubt that there are ethnic-minority families which represent the best of Britain – serious about academic achievement, entrepreneurial, family-oriented and devoted to civic life. Many of these families will take an interest in their countries of origin and hold their non-Christian faith dearly – but they are also patriotic and appreciative of the freedoms bestowed by British democracy. I suspect it is these kinds of families and communities that the likes of Fraser Nelson have in mind when they refer to Britain as an 'integration miracle'. But the portrait of modern Britain is much more complicated than that. While recent studies show that segregation is at an all-time low in much of Britain (and certainly lower when compared to countries like the United States), it remains a problem in cities such as Leicester and a string of post-industrial towns across northern England. While there is much outrage over the unprecedented level of newcomers arriving in the post-Brexit era, there are people who have lived in Britain for decades and can barely speak English. It is true that previous governments such as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition have slashed funding for English language classes – but integration is a two-way street. The reality is that there are ethnic 'enclaves' which are separated from the mainstream – with their own specific cultural and religious amenities, as well as access to foreign-language media and entertainment. In some of these enclaves, there is little desire to integrate – even if English language tuition was readily available on their doorsteps. The residents of such areas may live in Britain in a physical sense, but their hearts and minds are elsewhere. While there is an unhealthy reliance on state-funded translation services when it comes to interacting with sectors such as education and healthcare, younger and British-born bilingual relatives can also be depended on for occasions such as parents' evenings and medical appointments. It could be argued that none of this really matters. If these enclaves are generally respectful of the law, who cares if the people who live within them don't speak good English? But segregated areas of Britain with relatively low levels of English language proficiency are less likely to have a sound understanding of social, economic, cultural and legal norms that underpin our country. This can lead to forms of anti-social behaviour which may be more acceptable in their place of origin, but rub others – including members of the white-British ethnic majority and well-integrated migrants – the wrong way. At its very worst, the people within these enclaves are susceptible to extremism. Integration is a two-way street, but the reality is that the British state has no robust strategy for it: a significant number of people are only too happy to exist in their ethno-religious silos. And the results down the road may not be pretty for the rest of us. Dr Rakib Ehsan is the author of Beyond Grievance. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
