EXCLUSIVE: Could The Telegraph be bought by a political extremist?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2024
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sir Paul Marshall is a Tory donor, hedge fund millionaire, co-owner of GB News and - according to his anonymous Twitter account - amplifier of far right conspiracy theories and extremist views on the Great Replacement Theory.
In today’s episode, Hope Not Hate has worked with The News Agents to ask why a front runner bidding to buy the Telegraph has been engaging with anti Muslim statements by Britain First - and has - since we first approached him - deleted hundreds of likes and retweets from his now empty account.
Sir Paul has said they are not aligned with his views and represent 'a small proportion’ of his social media posts. Will the government find him a fit and proper person to own media in the UK?
Later, chaos in the Commons. What did last night’s ruckus really mean? Will the Speaker survive? Are our MPs safe ?
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producer: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & Shane Fennelly
You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
And, The News Agents now have merch! To get yours, head to: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.9 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:12.3 | Is someone who has amplified the voices of extreme, indeed far right content and conspiracy theories, |
| 0:20.4 | a fit and proper person to own one of our biggest |
| 0:23.6 | and most influential newspapers that is at the heart of what we're going to be talking about |
| 0:28.3 | on the show today with a newsagent's exclusive story this concerns sir paul marshall a businessman |
| 0:33.7 | of whom you may not have heard but as as a conservative donor, Brexit backer, part |
| 0:38.8 | owner of GB News, is already one of the most influential voices at the heart of centre-right |
| 0:44.5 | politics in Britain today. He wants to buy The Telegraph and Spectator, on top of that, |
| 0:50.5 | the most influential conservative publications in Britain today. So he might be about to become |
| 0:56.2 | more powerful still, as powerful, a media tycoon as even Rupert Murdoch. And we can reveal, |
| 1:03.4 | through an exclusive newsagents' hope not hate partnership, that over the last few months, |
| 1:08.0 | Sir Paul has been, through a private account, retweeting and liking content, |
| 1:12.8 | which is on the most extreme end of political opinion, about Islam, expulsion of migrants, |
| 1:18.7 | about homosexuality. Will this disqualify him from the ownership of the Telegraph? Should it? |
| 1:24.2 | And what does it say about the radicalisation of opinion and politics in Britain today. |
| 1:29.7 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:34.3 | The newsagents. |
| 1:36.8 | It's John. It's Emily. It's Lewis. |
| 1:39.3 | And just to say that later in the show we're going to be talking about obviously the events |
| 1:43.3 | that unfolded in the Commons last night, the reverberations from that we're going to be talking about obviously the events that unfolded in the |
| 1:44.3 | commons last night, the reverberations from that, which seemed to be all centred around a |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Global, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Global and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.