LONDON: British MP Nadhim Zahawi has been acting as a liaison between the UAE and the Barclay family in the latter’s quest to regain control over The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.
This role could see the Conservative Party ex-chair become the chairman of Telegraph Media Group, a source told The Times on Wednesday.
After securing a substantial sum from UAE investors, the Barclay family offered to repurchase their debt from Lloyds Banking Group, which has stripped them of the newspapers’ ownership, for about £500 million ($634 million) — half of the debt’s value.
Zahawi’s involvement could win him a fee for his role in securing funds from the UAE.
The former minister was dismissed in February by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from his role as Conservative Party chairman. This came in the wake of an investigation into Zahawi’s tax affairs.
In case he secures the senior role at The Telegraph, Zahawi will have influence over the debate about the Conservative Party’s future, a discourse that will gain momentum as the upcoming election approaches.
After his elimination in the first round of last year’s Tory leadership election, Zahawi threw his support behind Liz Truss to “overturn stale economic orthodoxy.”
This means if Zahawi is appointed as The Telegraph chairman, scrutiny of Sunak’s economic policy could intensify.
Zahawi would not be the first British MP to pursue a senior media role. Former PM Boris Johnson was elected as MP for Henley while editor of The Spectator, and George Osborne, who had served as chancellor of the exchequer, was made editor of the Evening Standard while still an MP in 2017.
Lloyds Banking Group put The Telegraph’s holding company into receivership in June following years of negotiations with the Barclay family.
