The former head of MI6 has labelled the planned Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of the Telegraph newspaper as “completely unacceptable” and a “profound security concern”.
Sir Richard Dearlove said an authoritarian state acquiring an influential newspaper poses a risk to the UK and its democracy, and urged ministers to intervene and block the deal.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Dearlove told the government to “put a peg in the ground and say no way” to the sale of the newspaper to the fund backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s completely inappropriate for an autocratic state – even at arm’s length – to be the owner of The Telegraph and The Spectator,” he said.
“It’s just really I think completely unacceptable as a matter of principle, even if they’re saying they will guarantee complete editorial freedom.”
The newspaper group, which includes the Daily and Sunday editions and the weekly political magazine The Spectator, was put up for sale in June after the failure of the current owners, the Barclay family, to repay debts of £1.15bn to Lloyds Banking Group.
An Abu Dhabi-backed fund, RedBird IMI, last Monday helped the family pay off the debt, removing Lloyds as a creditor, a key barrier to owning the company. While RedBird IMI is now a de facto owner of the newspaper, the could still be blocked if it is not approved by the media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority.
Dearlove said UAE leaders would not allow critical or mocking stories to appear in the newspaper, expecting them to be met with “unbridled fury”.
“I just cannot believe that there aren’t instances where they would interfere because it’s just in their nature not to let these things go,” he said.
Even worse, Dearlove said, were concerns about the national security implications of the deal.
“I think it’s not a specific security threat, but I would say it’s a security concern and quite a profound one.”
He said other countries would not allow foreign states to intervene in this way.
“I’m basically completely opposed to the concept,” he said. “I think the symbolism is totally unacceptable. I mean can you imagine the French government allowing, let us say Le Figaro or Le Canard enchaîné, to be owned by a Chinese printing house or something like that?
“I know that the UK has a laissez-faire attitude towards foreign ownership but there are points at which you have to put a peg in the ground and say no way. And I think the government should intervene to say this is inappropriate.”
He added: “Autocratic ownership, even arm’s length, is not on. They may be benign despots, but they’re despots.”
Dearlove also said the Telegraph could be used to cosy up to China, influencing public opinion about foreign policy and guiding political debate.
He said: “The other thing that is slightly worrying is the extent to which the Gulf states are developing their relations with the Chinese and trying to be much more independent in terms of their foreign policy despite the fact that they are an ally of the UK.”
Earlier this month, the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, ordered a public interest investigation into the acquisition after MPs, journalists and human rights groups expressed concerns about the takeover.
