Chairman Andrew Neil is to hand over the reins whether or not an Abu Dhabi-led bid for The Spectator and Telegraph papers succeeds
Andrew Neil told the BBC he would quit his role with the 200-year-old magazine if the deal went ahead The former BBC presenter is preparing to hand over the reins of the nearly 200-year-old political magazine after a bruising battle to preserve its independence.
Even if the deal is thwarted, Mr Neil, 74, appears ready to hand over control of the hugely influential title in Conservative circles, which generated profits of £2.6m last year on revenues of more than £20m.Mr Neil said he was opposed to Paul Marshall, the Brexiteer hedge fund manager who bankrolls GB News, owning the magazine.
Downing Street is considering whether to amend existing legislation to give the Government powers to prevent a foreign state from owning a British news organisation.: “The Zucker deal looks dead in the water. If the amendment goes through it’s not just dead in the water, it’s six feet under.” Mr Neil was embroiled in a war of words with Mr Zucker, who claimed that Mr Neil had pitched to chair a new combinedMr Neil said no such offer was ever made and he had no interest in any role designed to give Mr Zucker “editorial credibility”., with an advisory board to rule on disputes between journalists and the owners in the UAE.In 1996 Andrew Neil was appointed to the role of editor-in-chief at Press Holdings, the Barclay Brothers-owned media firm that owned.