Sunak fails to meet UAE leaders amid contentious bid to buy Telegraph
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Rishi Sunak did not take part in a bilateral meeting with the United Arab Emirates at Cop28 on Friday amid the Gulf state’s attempt to buy The Telegraph.
The UAE is hosting this year’s Cop climate conference and Mr Sunak took part in a series of bilateral meetings with regional leaders when he visited on Friday, including the Israeli president and the Qatari and Jordanian leaders.
But while some had expected Mr Sunak to meet a representative from the host country, that did not take place.
It is understood the UK and UAE ran out of time for formal discussions amid a series of delays to their respective programmes.
Lloyds Banking Group, which took control of The Telegraph and The Spectator from the Barclay family earlier this year, had been pursuing a £1.2 billion deal to hand the titles to RedBird IMI – a fund backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the vice-president of the UAE.
But Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, intervened on Thursday to prevent RedBird IMI taking control of both titles within days amid fears of foreign state interference and censorship.
A quasi-judicial matter
Mr Sunak declined to comment on the potential sale of The Telegraph when asked by reporters on Thursday night in the wake of Mrs Frazer’s intervention.
“You are going to be disappointed that all I can say on this is that it is a quasi-judicial matter and there is a process that needs to be followed,” the Prime Minister said.
“There is no further comment that I can really add. That process is laid out with all the details. It’s right that the process is followed.”
Jeff Zucker, who leads RedBird IMI, has insisted he would resign if there were any suggestion of interference from Abu Dhabi.
High-profile critics of the deal include Lord Hague, a former foreign secretary and close ally of Mr Sunak who has called for it to be blocked.
Mr Sunak’s official spokesman confirmed he had not discussed the future of The Telegraph with Sir Tony Blair, who is said to have played a key role in brokering a 2020 deal between Israel and the UAE, when they met on Friday.
