Why Andrew Neil would make a better editor than chief executive

A few weeks ago BBC television news announced that the Barclay brothers were the new owners of the Daily Telegraph. It has since become plain that they may not be. They hope to acquire Conrad Black’s 30 per cent stake in Hollinger International (owner of the Telegraph newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post and this magazine) which carries 73 per cent of the voting rights. Hollinger International is applying to one court in Delaware to block this sale. Lord Black has asked another in Ontario to approve it. No party to this dreadfully tangled affair feels comfortable without issuing several writs.

On behalf of Hollinger International, Lazard bank has just issued an investment memorandum inviting bids for the Telegraph Group. Although it is by no means clear that Hollinger International is in any position to dispose of any titles, several suitors, from the Daily Mail to various investment trusts, are preparing bids. Perhaps one of them will be successful. The more likely outcome, however, is that the Barclay brothers will make an offer for the remaining 70 per cent of the shares in Hollinger International. Twenty dollars a share has been mentioned as a figure which might secure the deal. They would then sell on the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post and various odds and sods, and retain the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator.

So it does not seem premature to ask what kind of proprietors the Barclays might turn out to be. In particular, one wonders whom they would put in charge of their new empire. Might they keep on the present directors? Possibly in one or two cases, but they are bound to want to bring in their own chief executive, who will in turn expect to have his own team. Who might this be? Step forward Andrew Neil, former editor of the Sunday Times, and the Barclay brothers’ senior newspaper executive in this country, responsible for running their small stable of titles, which include the Scotsman and the Business.