William Hague says the prospect of The Telegraph being owned by a UAE-based company is 'disturbing and should be prevented'

Former foreign secretary William Hague last night said the prospect of The Daily Telegraph being owned by a UAE-based company was 'disturbing and should be prevented'.

He also criticised a trade minister – Lord Johnson – for saying we shouldn't get 'sentimental' about newspapers. 

Lord Hague insisted the media mattered now more than ever.

And he said that if he were culture secretary, he would intervene in the deal to buy the titles as Secretary of State Lucy Frazer has said she is 'minded' to do.

In his Times column, he wrote: 'The prospect of important British media institutions the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator, falling into the ownership of Sheikh Mansour of the UAE is disturbing and should be prevented.

'I say that as an avowed enthusiast for the Emirates, its achievements and its role in the world.'

Lord Hague, who is close to the Prime Minister who now represents his Yorkshire seat, said that while the UAE was a friend to Britain, the two countries had different views on press freedom.

During his time as foreign secretary, he recalled a furious phone call from a senior figure in the UAE who had demanded that he stop the BBC reporting damaging stories about the country.

When Lord Hague explained to him that the media was independent, he 'thought it was a very odd way to run a country and an extremely irritating one'.

'He struggled to comprehend that the British government could have no knowledge of, or control over, the editorial decisions of the BBC,' Lord Hague wrote.

'He found it difficult to comprehend that British ministers could do nothing about media coverage that had implications for Britain's foreign relations, and that we would regard it as wrong even to try.

'The idea of owning or establishing a company or institution that is deliberately annoying to you, and doing nothing about that, was alien to him. 

'In his world, there was no clear separation between private and public interest, or between national policy and media coverage.'

Defending newspapers following Lord Johnson's comments, he said traditional media mattered more than ever in an era of social media and fake news.

Lord Hague added: 'Misinformation is becoming rife. Social media, with its selective and addictive news feeds, is poisoning politics the world over.

'Whether newspapers are in physical or digital form is irrelevant, but their freedom and existence will be more essential than ever.'

He added of the deal that a UAE-based company owning the Telegraph would be 'going too far'.

Lord Hague's concerns echo those of veteran former Telegraph editor Charles Moore, who has warned ministers would never be forgiven if they let the Telegraph titles be sold to a foreign power. Lord Moore said they were 'great British institutions' and 'should not be controlled by a foreign power'. 

He warned it would be alarming enough if the British government 'nationalised' a free newspaper, let alone 'by a country which does not have Press freedom'.

And Labour waded in last night, urging ministers to use national security powers to intervene in the controversial sale.

Security spokesman Dan Jarvis told MPs that the proposed sale to a fund backed by the United Arab Emirates required 'immediate attention' by ministers.

Culture Secretary Ms Frazer last week said she was 'minded' to order a public interest intervention notice before allowing the deal to go ahead. 

But Mr Jarvis said ministers should also examine the deal on security grounds.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat acknowledged that 'foreign ownership and foreign control is a vital area of foreign influence in our government and society'.

But he did not say whether the proposed deal will be looked at on national security grounds.

Tory MPs have urged ministers to block the sale to Abu Dhabi-based investment company RedBird IMI, backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is deputy premier of the UAE.

The Mail on Sunday reported that a separate deal by Sheikh Mansour's Mubadala Investment Company to buy a majority stake in a New York hedge fund is currently being probed in the US on national security grounds.

The proposed acquisition is reportedly being examined by the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment, which has the power to block deals if they pose a risk to national security.

The call for ministers to intervene came as Rishi Sunak declared Britain should 'reorient' towards the Middle East and China.

Ministers yesterday cosied up to the emirate during an investment summit designed to attract billions of pounds from around the world to boost UK growth and jobs. 

Mr Sunak told the gathering in the grand surroundings of Hampton Court: 'The economic geography of the world is changing and so for a country like the UK it's important that we reorient ourselves to places like the Middle East, like Asia Pacific.'

At the conference Chancellor Jeremy Hunt shared a stage with Khaldoon al Mubarak, head of Mubadala and chairman of Premier League club Manchester City.

And there were also behind closed doors meetings in which Mr al Mubarak met Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, the Mail understands.

It was also reported that Mubadala has been approached about taking a stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant.

According to The Times, the Government is looking to offload the holding it bought for £100million from a state-owned Chinese company last year amid concerns about Beijing's access to Britain's critical infrastructure.

A government source told the newspaper that Mubadala was 'part of the mix of options but not the only viable one'.

Mr Sunak's comments about growing closer to Middle East regimes come at a time when the PM argues that Britain must cooperate more closely with other countries amid global turmoil.

Mr Hunt introduced Mr al Mubarak as the boss of one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world and 'owner of Manchester City' – joking that it meant anyone from Manchester would either 'love him or hate him'.

He politely left unmentioned the 115 financial charges brought by the Premier League that the football club is facing.