Conrad Black sells Catholic Herald stake to ‘sting’ ex MP
What better way to obtain redemption than by buying a stake in Britain’s leading Catholic publication? I can reveal that ex-tory MP Brooks Newmark has just become one of the main shareholders of the Catholic herald.
Newmark stood down from Parliament in 2015 after becoming the victim of a newspaper ‘sting’ in which a male reporter posed as a female party activist to whom Newmark sent a number of revealing texts.
he acquired his stake from fallen media tycoon Conrad Black, who has offloaded his 47.5 per cent holding in equal shares to Newmark and buccaneering, thrice-married publisher William Cash, 52.
Now a visiting academic at the Middle East Centre at St antony’s College, Oxford, american-born Newmark, 61, has ambitious plans for the weekly magazine.
‘there are 70 million Catholics in the U.S. and about half a billion Spanish speakers across the world,’ he tells me, adding that the herald is investigating in online editions in Spanish, French and Italian.
Newmark, who is Jewish, was introduced to Catholicism after his father died.
‘My mother re-married and moved to England, marrying a Catholic. We were brought up half- Catholic,
WILL there be a sequel to the £800 million box office-grossing Bohemian Rhapsody? ‘We’re talking about it,’ admits Queen guitarist Brian May. ‘There’s a school of thought that says, “Leave it.” There’s another that thinks, “A lot happened after Live Aid.”’ However, drummer Roger Taylor is clearly of the former opinion. ‘I’m tempted to leave things as they are,’ he says. half-Jewish — my five kids likewise. My wife Lucy is a Catholic.’
Sir Rocco Forte, who owns the controlling interest in the venerable periodical — first published in 1888 — paid tribute to the departing Black. ‘he’s very grateful for Conrad Black’s support,’ Sir Rocco’s spokesman tells me. ‘Conrad decided, as he’s no longer living here, to sell his stake to someone who was actively involved in the UK.’
Cash insists that Black, who was dramatically pardoned by President trump last week, will not be forgotten. ‘We are hosting a dinner for him when he comes over to London for a few weeks,’ he tells me, ‘and we hope he will continue to write for us.’
Let’s hope Black, who served three years in a U.S. prison for fraud and obstruction of justice, can squeeze it into his schedule. Last year he knocked out a biography entitled: Donald J. trump: a President Like No Other.