The sale of the Telegraph Media Group has been thrown into fresh turmoil after the company’s own newspaper linked its presumed new owner to the suspected ringleader of the alleged Chinese spy ring in Westminster.
Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Telegraph published a 2024 photograph of the financier John Thornton shaking hands with Cai Qi, a senior member of the Chinese Communist party’s ruling politburo, raising questions as to whether the British title is being weighed as a means for China to exert foreign influence.
Thornton is the chair of RedBird Capital Partners, the private equity firm bidding for control of the media group. Cai has been described as the top lieutenant of China’s president, Xi Jinping, and has been revealed as the suspect receiving British political intelligence that formed part of the collapsed Chinese spying prosecution.
Iain Duncan Smith, the MP and former leader of the Conservative party who has been pressing for the government to launch a fresh investigation into the latest Telegraph takeover, wrote on X: “Let me put it plainly. The meeting between John Thornton and Cai Qi is a red flag and a serious one.
“It demands that the culture secretary, @lisanandy, trigger an investigation into RedBird’s bid for the Telegraph under our media freedom laws.
“The risk of undue Chinese influence here is overwhelming and that’s not just my view; it’s supported by formal legal opinion, given Thornton’s deep and well-documented connections with senior figures in the Chinese Communist party.”
The development is the latest piece of intrigue in a long-running Telegraph takeover saga.
RedBird Capital – which holds various investments, including a stake in the parent company of Liverpool Football Club – is in the process of acquiring Telegraph Media Group from a connected organisation, RedBird IMI.
RedBird IMI was forced to put the titles up for sale in spring 2024 after the then Conservative government passed a law blocking foreign states or associated individuals from owning newspaper assets in the UK.
While a quarter of RedBird IMI’s funding came from RedBird Capital, the remainder was sourced from International Media Investments (IMI) – which is controlled by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates and owner of Manchester City FC.
The Labour government eased the ban on foreign governments owning stakes in UK newspapers this year by allowing them to hold up to 15% of titles, which paved the way for the RedBird Capital offer that would lead to IMI retaining a 15% Telegraph stake.
The deal, however, has continued to be viewed with suspicion.
In the House of Lords this month, the Liberal Democrat peer Christopher Fox said: “My Lords, as we know, a fund with Abu Dhabi money and probably Chinese money is acquiring what in global terms is a small player, relatively small, but the Telegraph is significant in the UK.
“The best explanation for their motives that I can come up with is that they’re buying influence.”
Other media sources suggested the Telegraph deal should also be seen as a precursor to the potential sale of further UK media titles in the coming years – and how robustly the government might stand in the way of wealthy foreign states who might be eyeing these trophy assets.
One source suggested there would be more conventional buyers for the Telegraph if RedBird IMI had not set the asking price at £500m.
The Telegraph’s future has been uncertain since the Barclay family lost its grip on the media group in 2023 in a row about unpaid debts. Redbird IMI took control of the titles later that year.
The newspapers’ sister magazine, the Spectator, was sold last year to the hedge fund tycoon and backer of GB News, Sir Paul Marshall, for £100m. Marshall had also been in the running to buy the Telegraph titles.
A spokesperson for RedBird Capital said: “RedBird’s funds are backed by a diverse group of leading global blue-chip institutional investors and family offices which do not include any institutions or individuals from China. There is no Chinese influence in RedBird’s proposed acquisition of the Telegraph.
“We are happy to work with any regulator or government body that wants to look into the proposed transaction.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport did not comment, citing a “quasi-judicial process”.
