The former Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi is leading a potential bid to buy The Telegraph, it has been claimed.
Mr Zahawi, whose Cabinet appointments included a two-month stint as chancellor in 2022, has been approaching investors about a £600m bid for The Telegraph and The Spectator, according to Sky News.
Mr Zahawi has discussed funding a potential bid with the Reuben family, the property billionaires who own a stake in Newcastle United Football Club, it was reported.
The former MP was a key middleman in the Abu Dhabi-backed attempt to acquire the titles, which was blocked by the last government.
He also chairs Very Group, the online retailer owned by the Barclay family, who are technically still owners of The Telegraph but exercise no control over it.
RedBird IMI, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi and a US private equity firm, has put The Telegraph up for sale again in an auction after being prevented from taking control by new laws against foreign state ownership of newspapers.
However, Mr Zahawi is reportedly talking directly with IMI about a potential buyer. IMI provided most of the backing for RedBird IMI’s £600m deal for The Telegraph and The Spectator magazine last year.
At the same time IMI became a major investor in Very Group in a complex deal to pay off Barclay family debts to Lloyds Banking Group.
Mr Zahawi served as chancellor in the final days of Boris Johnson’s government and was Education Secretary before that. He briefly stood for the leadership against Liz Truss and stepped down as MP for Stratford-on-Avon ahead of this year’s elections, when the constituency elected a Liberal Democrat.
The Telegraph revealed last week that the private equity giant CVC was preparing a bid.
Other potential buyers include Lord Maurice Saatchi, Margaret Thatcher’s advertising guru, and National World, the owner of The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post newspapers.
DMGT, the owner of The Daily Mail, has pulled out of a possible bid citing the arrival of a Labour government and the new restrictions on foreign state shareholders.
Mr Zahawi did not respond to requests for comment.