The two right-wing moguls usurping Murdoch on Fleet Street

3 months ago 19

A billion-dollar deal threatens to push media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to the sidelines of British politics, as The Daily Mail seeks to buy out its more upmarket rival, The Telegraph, to consolidate its position as country’s most powerful right-wing publisher.

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), owner of The Mail and a suite of other right-wing media assets in the United Kingdom, has emerged as the victor in a two-plus years process to buy London’s most conservative daily broadsheet for £500 million ($1.01bn). The sale process was put in motion to tackle debts in excess of £1 billion ($2.028bn) owed by The Telegraph’s owners, the billionaire Barclay twins, David and Frederick.

Should the sale receive the backing of the UK’s Labour government, it would be the biggest shake up to Fleet Street, the heartbeat of British news industry, since closure of Murdoch’s News of the World in 2011.

The British press could soon be even more concentrated.

The sale further consolidates power and ownership of the British press, an industry dominated in its history by colourful barons and moguls. Now, there are two key figures with arguably greater influence than the once-dominant Rupert Murdoch, finding success with an ever more brash brand of right-wing journalism once pioneered by the ‘Dirty Digger’. The owner of the UK’s most storied left-leaning paper, The Guardian, sold its Sunday paper, The Observer to Tortoise Media in late-2024.

DMGT is currently owned and chaired by Lord Rothermere, the fourth Viscount Rothermere and a member of the House of Lords, the United Kingdom’s upper house. His family has controlled The Daily Mail for more than a century, dating back to the First Viscount Rothermere, now also owning free-daily tabloid Metro and the i Paper. Rothermere bought out the remaining shares in the company in 2022, taking it private.

Donald Trump speaking with Nigel Farage in 2024 for GB News.

The other is Paul Marshall, a hedge fund manager and the co-owner of GB News, now the fourth-largest media brand in the country and Britain’s answer to Fox News. Last year, The Telegraph’s stablemate, conservative magazine The Spectator was bought by Marshall for £100 million ($203m) in a forced sale. He also owns conservative website UnHerd.

GB News is host to a number of shows regularly fronted by senior figures from the right-wing of politics, including Nigel Farage, who hosts his own nightly show. While it often courts controversy, has struggled financially and been propped by Marshall; GB News’ success has disrupted Britain’s media ecosystem, often out-rating Sky News in key timeslots. It also scuppered News UK’s own attempts at a news channel, Talk TV, which lasted just two years on traditional television before becoming an online-only product in 2022.

This purchase would solidify Lord Rothermere as the largest commercial publisher in the United Kingdom, with the Murdoch Family’s media footprint watered down since the closure of News of the World following the phone hacking scandal, the decline of print newspapers and the sale of BSkyB to Comcast in 2018.

Rupert Murdoch and the editor of the Times, Harold Evans, in 1981.

While the publicly owned BBC still dominates British media, the Mail and Telegraph are the fourth and fifth most popular online news brands, according to the 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

Unlike the Murdoch-owned titles, which have been known to endorse different sides of politics depending on the issues of the day, both The Telegraph and The Daily Mail have taken a more inflexible approach in their coverage and in the face of a General Election.

In last year’s election, The Sun and The Sunday Times endorsed Sir Keir Starmer and Labour, while The Times and The Sun on Sunday (all News UK owned) did not offer an endorsement. Both The Mail and The Telegraph, as well as their Sunday editions backed the Conservative Party, which delivered its worst ever electoral result with just 121 seats.

Alongside GB News’ overt support of the Reform party, The Mail and The Telegraph have now emerged as perhaps the most strident supporters of Farage and his party, which – also aided by positive coverage by The Sun – are currently leading British polling for the first time in its history, with immigration its central issue.

Farage and Reform’s rise the polls have caused a further shift in British politics to the right, despite the traditionally centre-left Labour Party in Government. Legislation introduced by new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood last week – curbing the ability for refugees to seek asylum in the United Kingdom – has received broad praise in conservative circles and been criticised harshly in more progressive outlets.

Rothermere’s interest in The Telegraph dates back to 2023, and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK was at one point interested in a joint bid, with the controversial sale process operated by temporary owners RedBird IMI.

An offer from RedBird Capital fell over as recently as last week. Two bids had received public criticism for fear of foreign intervention, including from the Telegraph’s newsroom and editor Chris Evans over the group’s links to China and financial backing from Abu Dhabi.

Fleet Street, while having a waning influence, remains largely dominated by right-leaning mastheads, known for their ferocious attacks and campaign-style reporting.

Metro, also in the DMGT stable is the United Kingdom’s largest print newspaper by circulation, of those whose figures are available. The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday are the second and third largest respectively, while The Telegraph does not share its circulation figures.

Just this month, the combined power of the right-wing press was on display, with shared interests in eroding their biggest competitor, the BBC. The Telegraph published a leaked internal BBC memo, which cited allegations the BBC had inappropriately edited Donald Trump’s January 6 speech. Subsequent pressure and sustained coverage of the memo from The Telegraph, The Mail and the News UK titles led to the resignation of Tim Davies, director general and Deborah Turness, the BBC’s News CEO.

The DMGT said under its ownership, The Telegraph will retain its own editorial independence, and Rothermere added it will have the resources to invest in the newsroom under its current editor, Evans, who he praised in 2023 amid rumours he wanted to poach him to edit The Mail.

“Under our ownership, the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand, just as the Daily Mail has,” Rothermere said. Daily Mail Australia is currently the sixth-biggest digital news brand in Australia, according to Ipsos.

The Murdoch’s, both Rupert and Lachlan remain highly influential figures in British politics. At King Charles’ state banquet for Donald Trump in September, Murdoch was seated next to Sir Keir Starmer’s top aide, Morgan McSweeney, one of the most powerful figures in Westminster.