Brillo Faces Humiliation

With many out on the right increasingly worried about the possibility of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, and the equally increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine, being sold off to a vehicle bankrolled out of the UAE, and headed by a former CNN main man, their knight in less than shining armour has appeared to oppose the move.

Step forward former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil, Brexiteer without equal, well, apart from his residing in an EU member state, that is. Brillo clearly approved of the news from Spectator editor Fraser Nelson, who told his followers “It’s looking more likely that the Emirati bid for the Spectator and Telegraph will be blocked by parliament”. Until the next election, maybe.

Still, Neil was bullish as he responded “If so it will be a job well done. And one in the eye for IMI, their know-nothing-about-Britain US frontman, Jeff Zucker, and their hired hand, George ‘Fees’ Osborne”. Sadly for him, Zucker has been speaking to former BBC man Jon Sopel, now of The News Agents.

“Andrew Neil, sometimes media executive, chairman of the Spectator, who I know you’ve met, said ‘the idea that these two vital vehicles of mainstream centre-right thought should be owned by Arab money, and controlled out of New York by a left-wing Democrat, beggars belief’. He said that the idea is absurd” told Sopel as Zucker listened patiently. So what say Mr Z?

“This may come as a shock, but Andrew Neil is quite the hypocrite on this …the reality is that Andrew Neil was interested in working with us, until we didn’t have any interest in having him work with us. I proposed to him … that he be the chair of an editorial trust board for the Spectator. He said that was too small for him, because he already, essentially, had that role”. Do go on.

“But he did say to me that he’d be interested in being the chair of a combined editorial trust board for the Telegraph and the Spectator, and suggested that, in that role, he could also act as a shadow editor of the Telegraph, because he felt the newspaper needed one. He also wanted to know how much such a role would pay. We said no thanks. And ever since that day, he’s been one of our most vocal critics, and I think that says all you need to know about [him]”.

Jeff Zucker ((c) David Shankbone)

OUCH! And he wasn’t finished. “Since I am sure he’s going to deny this … let me be very clear about something. He did not make that request just of me … and I can also tell you, that when I spoke to folks at both the Telegraph and the Spectator about his potential involvement, they were all quite pleased to learn that he would not be around”. DOUBLE OUCH!! Come on Brillo!

“Mr Zucker’s memory is playing tricks on him … I have no interest in a role solely designed to give Mr Zucker editorial credibility, which he lacks”. But Jeff Zucker, with his background, does not need Andrew Neil to give him credibility. The rest of Neil’s rebuttal airily pours scorn on Zucker. But one thing is lacking. And that is any threat of legal action against Zucker.

Moreover, whatever desperate measure the Tories dream up in order to block the Redbird IMI takeover of the Tel and Speccy is highly unlikely to survive a change in Government in the UK, which may occur sooner rather than later. So what’s with the idea of blocking that takeover? Simples. It guarantees that both titles will back the Tories into that election. And when the Tories lose, folks like Neil and Nelson will discover just how disposable they are.

After all, there were no howls of protest when the Evening Standard and Independent were taken over by the Russians - Russians very close to that country’s security agencies. Or when “Arab money”, to use Brillo’s happy phrase, bought a stake in the latter publication. Nor was there such organised opposition when another foreign takeover of the Tel happened.

That being Conrad Black buying the Tel and Speccy, among other titles. Nor was there the same scale of protest when Peter Oborne resigned from the Tel after the paper failed to cover the HSBC Swiss tax-dodging scandal, apparently in fear of offending advertisers (though Brillo criticised the Tel).

The time of Andrew Neil as a player, a major influence in the UK’s right-wing press, was for a time, but not for all time. Just rejoice at that news.