By Jess Jones
Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi has said it would be “an honour” to chair The Telegraph if the opportunity arose.
On Wednesday, the former chancellor said he introduced Jeff Zucker, ex-chief of CNN, and Redbird IMI to the Barclay family, who are now under regulatory scrutiny as they try to complete a takeover of the Telegraph Media Group (TMG).
“If Jeff eventually decides to offer me a job, what an honour it would be to chair a newspaper like The Daily Telegraph,” Zahawi told Nick Ferrari on LBC’s breakfast radio show.
“It would be an honour to chair The Telegraph,” he later added.
Such a move would likely spark controversy as Zahawi was sacked as the Tory party chair in January 2023 for not disclosing an HMRC investigation into his tax affairs.
Reports initially surfaced last summer about Zahawi’s potential chairmanship at The Telegraph, while he was first thought to be brokering the deal between Middle Eastern investors and Barclays.
When questioned about concerns over press freedom, Zahawi said it is “incredibly important that plurality and press freedom is completely maintained”.
“I think that it’s important that that process is allowed to take place and for it report back to Lucy Frazer and she will make that decision,” added Zahawi, who recently played himself in a cameo appearance on the popular ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The Telegraph deal has been enveloped in press freedom concerns which Zucker has tried to quell by promising that the newspaper will keep its editorial independence.
But there are shadows around IMI whose chairman, Sultan al-Jaber, reportedly pressured CNN Business Arabic to avoid publishing negative news about the United Arab Emirates, according to The Times.
The Barclay brothers are trying to buy back their papers with the help of Redbird IMI, a joint venture fund between Redbird in the US and Abu Dhabi-based IMI. They lost control of the titles last year after failing to pay nearly £1.2bn in debt to Lloyds bank.
Redbird IMI holds the loan used to repay lender Lloyds, with plans to secure its ownership of The Telegraph through a debt-to-equity swap.
This week, Redbird IMI informed TMG’s independent directors that it will control the title’s future ownership even if it is banned from taking control by the regulators, according to Sky News.
Directors at The Telegraph are also reportedly seeking government approval to find a successor for chief of finance, Cormac O’Shea.
But any new management and board changes would breach an order made last year by culture and media secretary Lucy Frazer, barring major role switches during ongoing investigations.
City A.M. approached Redbird IMI for comment.
