Andrew Neil Opposes Telegraph Deal to Zucker Group

Andrew Neil, chair of The Spectator in London, said the idea that the 200-year-old magazine and The Telegraph newspaper could be sold to an entity run by former CNN head Jeff Zucker and backed financially by the United Arab Emirates is "absurd," considering the foreign government is not democratic.

"The UAE is a terribly successful place," Neil said in a televised interview with "Newsnight," reported The Spectator. "I've done business there, but it's not a democratic government. We're a democracy. Our publications are part of the democratic process. How could we be owned by an undemocratic government?"

The Spectator was founded, he added, "to fight for the extension of the franchise to give more people the vote. Are we seriously going to contemplate that in 2024? We're going to be owned by people who run a government where nobody has the vote."

His remarks came before British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer announced Friday that the government will start a new inquiry into the bid for The Telegraph after the Zucker-run bidder, RedBird IMI changed its bidding structure at short notice and said the new holding company's ownership would reside in the United Kingdom, reported the BBC.

In the interview, which aired Thursday night, Neil said he does not believe RedBird IMI will keep its promises to protect the editorial independence of either the Telegraph or the Spectator.

"He who pays the piper gets to choose the tune, and the people paying the piper here is the UAE," said Neil.

"They've supplied 75% of the funds for this deal to go ahead. So the idea that they are just going to shell out hundreds of millions of pounds and then just disappear, I think is for the birds. That's not going to happen."

Neil also promised to resign if the sale goes through.

"I don't believe that our editorial independence could be guaranteed," he said. "Look, I was a Rupert Murdoch editor. I had independent trustee editors that were meant to protect my independence. The only time they ever intervened was when they [the trustees] tried to fire me."

Neil added that Zucker has asked him to be a trustee, but he turned down the offer, because "he appoints them. He can fire them."

The UAE could also fire Zucker at "any moment," said Neil.

"They're the guys with the money," he said. "So the idea that there's any kind of protection in this fake trusteeship: It doesn't work."

He acknowledged that Zucker has an "impressive" background in broadcast media, but "he knows nothing about Britain. He knows nothing about print. He knows nothing about newspapers, and he knows nothing about magazines."

Zucker also doesn't know about The Spectator and its history, he said.

"I don't think he'd ever heard of The Spectator until they bid for it, which makes it what it's been and why it's lasted for 200 years," said Neil. "So the idea that these two vital vehicles of mainstream center-right thought should be owned by Arab money and controlled out of New York by a left-wing Democrat beggars belief."

When asked how he knows Zucker is a Democrat, Neil pointed to his running of CNN while former President Donald Trump was in office.

"He turned CNN from a mainstream BBC-type broadcaster into a rabid anti-Trump, anti-Republican vehicle," said Neil. "Everybody knows that that's coming. He boasted this."