Lords approve law that would block UAE Telegraph bid

FOREIGN state influence over British newspapers will be outlawed after the House of Lords voted to effectively block the UAE bid for The Telegraph.

Peers passed an amendment to rule out the “ownership, influence or control” of newspapers and periodical news magazines by foreign governments. Lord Parkinson, the culture minister, announced that the law would later be extended to online newspapers.

Redbird IMI, a fund 75 per cent backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE vice-president, had positioned itself to take control of The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine by repaying the debts of the Barclay family, the current owners.

The takeover had been in limbo under scrutiny from the Government, using existing powers to protect press freedom, but MPS and peers across Parliament demanded tighter laws against foreign state control.

Lord Parkinson said: “We have heard the strength of concerns expressed in Parliament on foreign state ownership of UK newspapers and news magazines.

“His Majesty’s Government agrees that the importance of these publications to our democracy cannot be overstated.

“We are therefore taking steps to preserve the freedom of the press, recognising the risks that foreign state ownership of the UK newspapers could pose to democracy and free speech. Foreign state ownership … may over time corrode trust in our media as a whole.”

Baroness Stowell, the Tory peer whose campaigning persuaded the Government to lay the amendment, said in the House of Lords that she supported it.

“In my view, it deals with the legal uncertainty that the Redbird IMI proposed deal to buy The Telegraph titles and The Spectator has exposed, when it comes to the involvement of foreign powers in our news media,” she said.