The battle for the Telegraph newspaper group took an interesting turn this week as it emerged that its probable new owners have strong Catholic links.The reclusive Barclay twins, Sir Frederick and Sir David, who are bidding to take over the Telegraph titles and the Spectator, are close friends of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster.
According to newspaper reports, the Cardinal has stayed at the twins’ impregnable castle fortress on the Channel Island of Brequou.
He is believed to have blessed the brothers’ private chapel and said Mass for them there.
One source told The Catholic Herald that the Cardinal was “good friends with the Barclay brothers” and had flown over to stay with them during the bishops’ meeting in Guernsey in October 2002.
Lord Black of Crossharbour is in the middle of a complicated legal and financial battle with the Hollinger Group, which owns The Daily Telegraph.
The Canadian-born peer’s 30 per cent stake and 73 per cent voting rights in Hollinger International have been sold to the Barclay twins; but that sale is itself the subject of controversy.
This week, Hollinger International announced that it would challenge Lord Black’s deal with the brothers.
Conrad Black was one of a number of high-profile converts to Catholicism during the 1980s and 90s. His interest in the Church led him to become a major shareholder in The Catholic Herald. Visitors to his offices in Canary Wharf would see the Herald among the portfolio of papers on display next to a bust of John Henry, Cardinal Newman.
The 69-year-old Barclay brothers were born in London of Scottish Catholic parents.
They made their fortune in property speculation and development, and have not shied away from pursuing expensive litigation to safeguard their privacy and their reputation. Some of their business deals have courted controversy.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the Barclays scrapped all corporate charitable donations after they bought the Littlewoods retailing empire. This claim is vehemently denied by the brothers, who say they merely changed the nature of the donations.
Last year, they were reported to have given £2.5 million to Alder Hey children’s hospital, Liverpool, and another £500,000 to Liverpool charities.
A spokesman for The Scotsman newspaper, which the brothers bought in 1995, said they did not interfere with editorial policy.
“They see the business as an investment, not as voice for their opinions, which is what you want of an owner,” he said.
The new editor of The Daily Telegraph, Martin Newland, is a Catholic, as was his predecessor, Charles Moore.
A former journalist on The Catholic Herald, he describes himself as a practising Catholic in the “Graham Greene mould” – something that should appeal to his prospective employers.
