He also raised the issue of women’s rights in the UAE, adding: “There are all sorts of areas where it clashes with what I’d think of as the national interest.”
Asked whether he thought Rishi Sunak and the Government should step in and “stop” the sale, he replied: “Yes, in my view absolutely.”
Mr Davis said that ministers should learn from what happened when The Times was sold to Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media tycoon, in 1981.
He said: “At that time there were conditions put upon it and those conditions were broken and there was nothing we could do about it.
“We were told that the editor of The Times would be independent. Eventually one of them got sacked and we could do nothing about it. The same would apply with the Emirates. Frankly, we could do nothing to protect it.”
Mr Davis’s intervention comes after a group of senior Tory MPs urged ministers to intervene over the deal, warning it had serious national security implications.
Both The Telegraph and The Spectator are up for sale and are subject to the Abu Dhabi-backed takeover bid, which has led to concerns over national security.
Public Interest Intervention Notice triggered
Lloyds Banking Group took control of Telegraph Media Group, the titles’ parent company, in June from the Barclay family over an outstanding debt.
The family is pursuing a £1.2 billion deal to hand over control of the titles to RedBird IMI, a fund backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE vice-president.
Ms Frazer issued a statement on Thursday announcing that she was triggering a Public Interest Intervention Notice surrounding the planned sale. It means both Ofcom, the media watchdog, and the Competition and Markets Authority will look into potential issues surrounding the deal.
Ms Frazer added that she reserved “the right to take such further action…as I consider appropriate” including personally intervening in the deal.
RedBird IMI said any sale would be “subject to regulatory review” and it would “continue to cooperate fully with the Government and the regulator”.
In a statement it added: “Redbird IMI are entirely committed to maintaining the existing editorial team at The Telegraph and The Spectator publications and believe that editorial independence for these titles is essential to protecting their reputation and credibility.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
