The Government has said it is concerned about the principle of a foreign government owning a UK media organisation as it considers whether to block the UAE’s takeover of The Telegraph.
Julia Lopez, the media minister, urged MPs in the Commons to “be heard loud and clear” and indicated she would be sympathetic to some of the fears raised by MPs.
She said: “As a principle, I would be concerned about government ownership of any media institution.”
The House of Commons debate on the attempted takeover of The Telegraph by RedBird IMI, a group that is 75 per cent funded by the UAE, was triggered via an urgent question on Tuesday.
The debate comes after Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, last week ordered a second Ofcom investigation into the takeover. Her action was prompted by an 11th-hour change to the corporate structure via which RedBird IMI plans to own The Telegraph. It introduced an English limited partnership into the chain of ownership, a type of organisation in which investors such as RedBird IMI must be passive by law.
The move was an apparent attempt to assuage regulator’s concerns that Abu Dhabi could interfere in the running of The Telegraph. However, such a significant change days before Ofcom had been due to deliver its report angered Ms Frazer. She viewed it as a new transaction and added six weeks to the investigation timetable.
Deal under scrutiny from Culture Secretary
Ms Lopez’s comments are the clearest indication of the Government’s thinking on the deal, which is currently being scrutinised by the Culture Secretary.
At one point Ms Lopez suggested a total ban on foreign state ownership of the media would be considered after a decision was made on The Telegraph deal.
MPs from across the political spectrum spoke out against the deal, with many warning that the move risked press freedom and could undercut British democracy.
Jamie Stone, a Liberal Democrat MP, said “I think the mood of the House is that this is simply not on,” adding later: “We won’t wear this.”
James Sunderland, a Conservative MP, expressed concerns on foreign ownership, asking: “To quote the well known song, how do we ensure that we do not end up selling England by the pound?”
John Nicolson, the SNP MP, warned: “I’m not in favour of a newspaper being owned as a loss-making PR arm of a foreign state by access to our daily news cycle.”
Throughout the debate Ms Lopez said she could not offer updates on the process scrutinising the takeover beyond what was in the public domain, nor could she share a personal opinion on the deal.
However, at various points she also talked about the importance of free speech, urged MPs to have their say and voiced concerns about government ownership by the media in general.
‘Unhealthy in principle for our democracy’
At one point Mr Nicolson, a former journalist, asked: “Would she agree that allowing the UAE to take over The Telegraph would be unhealthy in principle for our democracy?”
Ms Lopez responded: “I thank him for raising an issue of principle and it’s one I perfectly well understand, it’s something I speak about in relation to the BBC and how the BBC must have editorial independence from the Government.
“As a principle, I would be concerned about government ownership of any media institution. But I can speak, as he will fully be aware, only of principles.”
There was also a wider defence of free speech from Ms Lopez in her opening remarks.
Talking about what she intended to say about unrelated media legislation later on Tuesday, Ms Lopez said: “I shall argue that a free media not interfered with by government, or indeed governments, able to articulate and reflect a broad range of views, free to speak, free to create, able to project to the world what democracy, a plurality of views and debate truly mean, is something important, something that we should value, something that underpins what we mean, in many respects, by a free society.
“And of course we all know that, it’s something we repeat automaton-like in a way that risks complacency.
“But as I watch the actions of authoritarian states during these times of turbulence and as I see Western democracies in a knot of angst over our own values and as I see our populations questioned if our values still matter from the safety of these shores I’m reminded of the need to make case again and again and again.”
She went on: “So I cannot speak to this specific media ownership question. And I know that honourable members will understand that and help me keep within the tramlines that I have.
“But I can speak about media freedom, the need for media to be separate from political and government interference. The importance of a British voice domestically and internationally.”
‘You cannot separate sheikh and state’
The debate that followed saw MPs from all the biggest political parties share their fears about the implications of the UAE effectively owning The Telegraph.
Alicia Kearns, the Tory chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee who triggered the debate, said: “The concern here is not foreign ownership, it is foreign state ownership, and in this situation you cannot separate sheikh and state.”
Ms Kearns urged the Government to intervene over national security concerns, noting that ministers had just taken that step last week on the UAE’s ownership deal with Vodafone.
The move has so far been resisted by the Cabinet Office, which has the powers to step in, with the Culture Department instead being allowed first to scrutinise the deal.
‘Cannot afford our media to be undermined’
Ms Kearns said of the proposed takeover: “This is something that will make us vulnerable not for five years, not for 10 years, but for the rest of our lives, and we cannot afford our media to be undermined.”
Mr Stone, the Lib Dem MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, referred to The Telegraph columnist Alan Cochrane as he raised warnings about the takeover.
Mr Stone said: “For years I’ve been teased in The Telegraph at the hands of Mr Alan Cochrane and more recently in The Spectator. But of course that is democracy, that is the nature of the beast, that is free speech.”
He added: “I think the mood of the House is that this is simply not on. We all agree on that and I think that message should be passed back to the Secretary of State and to the Government. We won’t wear this.”
Sir Julian Lewis, the Tory MP and chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, offered a humorous intervention which prompted laughter from other MPs.
He asked: “When the wonderful Taylor Swift discovered that her back catalogue had been bought by a purchaser of whom she disapproved, she began to render it worthless by rerecording all her previous hits. Is this an example which the journalists on the Spectator and The Telegraph might do well to follow?”
Ms Lopez replied by saying it was a “mischievous suggestion” and one “I couldn’t possibly comment on”.
Labour figures also voiced worries. John McDonnell, the Left-wing former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, intervened to warn about free speech.
Mr McDonnell said: “If the minister can’t answer questions maybe we could use this as an exercise in issuing some concerns. Say, from the NUJ’s [National Union of Journalists] perspective, it is obviously about jobs but it’s also about editorial independence in the future.”
Thangam Debbonaire, the current Labour shadow culture secretary, said: “The freedom of the press has never been more important. Now is not the time for the Government to have no answers or be asleep at the wheel.”
At one point Sir John Redwood, the Tory former cabinet minister, asked: “As owners expect to have influence over editors and the editorial line, why don’t we have a policy of ruling out all government ownership of such organisations which would just make it much simpler?”
Ms Lopez opened the door to the idea, saying: “Well, I thank him for making a very simple point, and it’s one that I’m sure will be considered once this case is passed.”
A government decision on the next step for The Telegraph takeover is not expected for weeks, with the media regulator Ofcom due to report back by March 11.