UAE takeover bid of Telegraph ‘potentially dangerous’, says Bishop Baines
An Anglican bishop has spoken out against the attempted takeover of The Telegraph by the United Arab Emirates, saying it should not be allowed “anywhere near our free press”.
The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, said that ownership of a British newspaper by a foreign government was “potentially dangerous”.
Both The Telegraph and The Spectator are subject to a takeover bid from RedBird IMI, a fund backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE.
The potential acquisition has raised concerns about the editorial independence of the titles, as well as fears that the UAE could use them as a tool for influencing British politics and foreign policy.
Bishop Baines, the Church of England’s lead bishop on media issues in the House of Lords, said he shared worries about the deal.
“There is a particular argument I think about whether any foreign government should own a media outlet,” he told The Telegraph. “You’d say there is something potentially dangerous here.”
He added: “Personally I don’t think the Emirates or any government should be anywhere near our free press.”
Before entering the Church, Bishop Baines worked as a French, German and Russian linguist at GCHQ.
His first career meant that he “read Pravda everyday” and therefore “fully understood what it was to have a state-owned media”. “It doesn’t take much to go from what I’d call freedom, the whole framework of freedom, to something which is much more sinister,” he said.
Bishop Baines said he saw the takeover bid as part of a wider crisis relating to the UK’s constitutional culture, linking it to developments such as the Government’s controversial Rwanda Bill.
“I’m 66, and 10 years ago if you’d said we would consider passing legislation that on the face of it, the Secretary of State cannot guarantee that this bill is consistent with our obligations under international law, we’d have said that’s impossible,” he said.
“So the culture which is a bit Trumpian, which is we can just break everything, means that it’s harder I think to resist things like overseas ownership because we’re quite prepared to break everything else, ignore other I think ethical obligations.
“I think this question for The Telegraph and The Spectator simply forms part of a much wider cultural, constitutional – would I call it a crisis? I think it is, it raises fundamental questions that can’t simply be brushed off.
“There needs to be a much more serious and deeper debate in this country, not just about The Telegraph and The Spectator, but about ownership of media, about the constitution and the way we’re behaving in relation to our institutions.”
Last month, Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, ordered a second Ofcom investigation into the takeover, prompted by an 11th-hour change to the corporate structure via which RedBird IMI plans to own The Telegraph.
Ofcom is now due to report back by March 11.
