George Robertson.
| Photo Credit: AP

Former NATO leader George Robertson will lead a review of Britain’s military strategy to counter what he calls the “deadly quartet” of China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the strategic defence review on July 16 as one of his first major acts after taking office on July 5. Mr. Starmer who leads a center-left Labour Party government, has promised to end the shrinking of the U.K.’s military seen during 14 years of Conservative Party rule.

Mr. Starmer also says he will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from its current level of about 2.3% but has not set a deadline. He said spending would be “responsibly increased” to bolster Britain’s “hollowed-out armed forces.”

The Ministry of Defence said the review would aim to strengthen U.K. homeland security, bolster Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and “modernize and maintain” Britain’s nuclear arsenal.

Robertson, a former British defence secretary — who was NATO Secretary-General between 1999 and 2003 — will be assisted by ex-White House adviser Fiona Hill and Gen. Richard Barrons, a former director of operations for the U.K. armed forces.

Mr. Robertson told reporters that the U.K. and its NATO allies were “confronted by a deadly quartet of nations, increasingly working together,” referring to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.

At a summit in Washington last week, the 32-nation Western military alliance called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine, its most serious rebuke yet against Beijing. China insists that it does not provide military aid to Russia.

The review is scheduled to issue its report in the first half of 2025 and will help set Britain’s defence policy for the next decade.

London:

Britain’s political leaders made a final frantic push for votes Wednesday on the last day of an election campaign expected to return a Labour government after 14 years of Conservative rule.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted he was still “fighting hard” despite one of his closest allies conceding that the Tories were heading for an “extraordinary landslide” defeat on Thursday.

The Conservatives suffered a further blow at the 11th hour when The Sun tabloid, famous for backing election winners, endorsed Keir Starmer’s Labour.

Polls overwhelmingly predict that Labour will win its first general election since 2005 — making Starmer the party’s first prime minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010.

That outcome would see Britain swing leftwards back to the centre ground after almost a decade and a half of right-wing Conservative governments, dominated first by austerity, then Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis.

Starmer, 61, criss-crossed the UK in a bid to shore up Labour support and warn against complacency in the campaign’s final hours.

“If you want change, you have to vote for it,” he told reporters at an event in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, where supporters handed out cakes with red ribbons, the colour associated with the party. 

“I’m not taking anything for granted,” he added, before flying to Scotland on the same plane that took the England football team to the European Championships in Germany.

Sunak, 44, sought to hammer home his oft-repeated warnings that a Labour government would mean tax rises and weaker national security — jibes that Labour has branded a desperate attempt to cling to power.

The Tories also stepped up their warnings to voters to stop the prospect of Labour winning a “supermajority”, which Labour fears is intended to hit turnout. 

Sunak ally Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said Wednesday the electorate would “regret” handing Labour “untrammelled” power without an effective Tory opposition.

– Bigger than Blair? –

“If you look at the polls, it is pretty clear that Labour at this stage are heading for an extraordinary landslide on a scale that has probably never, ever been seen in this country before,” he told right-wing broadcaster GB News.

But ex-PM Boris Johnson — ousted by his own colleagues, including Sunak, in 2022 — staged his first major intervention of the campaign Tuesday, urging supporters not to see the result as a “foregone conclusion”.

Labour has enjoyed a consistent 20-point lead in the polls over the past two years with many voters dissatisfied at the Conservatives’ handling of a range of issues including public services, immigration and the economy.

Several surveys predict that Labour will win more than the record 418 seats it won when Tony Blair ended 18 years of Conservative rule in 1997. 

Labour requires at least 326 seats to secure a majority in the 650-seat parliament.

Voters head to the polls from 7:00 am (0600 GMT), with results expected to start dropping from about 2230 GMT late Thursday into Friday morning.

The vote is Britain’s first July election since 1945, when Labour under Clement Attlee defeated the Conservatives of World War II leader Winston Churchill, ushering in a period of transformational social change.

Attlee’s government created the modern welfare state, including the state-run National Health Service (NHS), Britain’s most cherished institution after the royal family.

– In-tray –

Starmer’s “change” agenda is not so radical this time around and promises cautious management of the economy, as part of a long-term growth plan that includes nursing battered public services back to health.

A Labour government would face a formidable to-do list, ranging from spurring anaemic growth to ending NHS strikes and improving post-Brexit ties with Europe.

Some voters simply eye a respite from politics after a chaotic period of five prime ministers, a succession of scandals and Tory infighting between centrists and right-wingers that shows no sign of abating. 

The Sun called the Conservatives a “divided rabble, more interested in fighting themselves than running the country”, adding: “It is time for a change.”

Starmer — the working-class son of a tool maker and a nurse — has none of the political charisma or popularity of former leader Blair, who presided over that last Labour victory in 2005.

But the former human rights lawyer and chief public prosecutor stands to gain from a country fed up with the Tories, and a feeling of national decline.

Arch-Eurosceptic Nigel Farage hopes the discontent will see him elected an MP at the eighth time of trying, while the Liberal Democrats are expected to gain dozens of seats.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer take part in the BBC’s Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, on June 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

In a final and noisy pre-election debate on Wednesday night, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party Leader, Keir Starmer, argued loudly with each other on the cost of living, taxes and welfare, immigration and gender.

The Prime Minister, in danger of losing his Richmond (Yorkshire) seat, repeatedly warned voters over the 75-minute debate not to “surrender” to Labour on various fronts.

Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party has been in power for 14 years, and has lagged behind Labour in opinion polls by around 20 points. Following the pandemic, Britons have seen four conservative Prime Ministers, crumbling public services (such as the National Health Service) and a cost of living crisis.

ALSO READ | Snap poll: On the surprise election announcement for the U.K.

The U.K.’s tax burden had hit record levels under the Sunak government. The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies warned earlier in the week that neither party was being upfront about the trade-offs that would have to be made between taxes and public services, which are already in disarray.

Mr. Sunak spoke over his opponent at length during the tax segment, accusing Mr. Starmer of planning a tax on pensions. “It is in their DNA. Mark my words. Your pension, your council tax your home, your car, you name it, they will tax it,” Mr. Sunak said.

On immigration, Mr. Starmer attacked the Prime Minister for the impracticality of the government’s plan to deport migrants with failed asylum claims to Rwanda. Mr Sunak argued that opposition leader did not have a plan and that it would be infeasible to return undocumented migrants to countries like Iran and Afghanistan.

The debate also went into some of Britain’s culture wars. The candidates were asked if they would protect women-only spaces. They both agreed on the equivalence of “sex” and “biological sex” but differed on the legal instruments required to achieve women-only spaces. Mr. Starmer accused the Tories of splitting people on a number of issues , as he cautioned people against transphobia.

Both candidates attempted to sidestep questions on mending Britain’s trading relationship with the European Union (EU). Pressed on the issue, Mr. Starmer said he would get a better deal with the EU including in research and development, as he pushed back against Mr. Sunak’s accusation that a better deal came with the free movement of EU citizens across the U.K. border.

Although Mr. Sunak trails Mr. Starmer in polls, Mr. Starmer also has low popularity.

During Wednesday’s debate, both candidates accused the other of making empty promises.

“Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next prime minister of our great country?” a senior citizen in the audience, Robert Blackstock, asked.

“I get the frustrations, but think about the choice, allow me to finish the job I’ve started,” Mr. Sunak said as he suggested he would protect pensions from tax, “secure” borders, and have lower taxes that Labour.

“People feel like hope’s been beaten out of them,” Mr. Starmer said, arguing that Britons felt worse off now than they were 14 years ago when the Conservatives came to power.

He talked about his “working class” background and bringing a sense of service to politics.

Following the debate, Mr. Blackstock said he was disappointed with the answers both candidates had provided.

“From my perspective, we want a personality. We want somebody that we can recognise. We want somebody on the world stage, that is going to project our Great Britain. That’s what we want,” he said.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives at the BBC Question Time Leaders’ Special at York University, in York, England, Thursday, June 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

An official from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party is being investigated by Britain’s gambling regulator over allegations he placed bets on the date of the general election before it was announced, the Sunday Times reported.

Britain’s Gambling Commission has already been reported to be investigating two Conservative election candidates and the party’s director of campaigning over bets on the date of the July 4 election.

The widening scandal has further damaged Sunak’s attempts to catch the opposition Labour Party, which is far ahead in opinion polls in the run-up to the election.

The official was named by the paper as Nick Mason, chief data officer at the Conservative Party. Mason did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The newspaper cited a spokesperson for Mason as saying he denied any wrongdoing.

The Sunday Times cited a statement from the Conservative Party as saying Mason had taken a leave of absence. The party did not confirm this when contacted by Reuters.

“As instructed by the Gambling Commission, we are not permitted to discuss any matters related to any investigation with the subject or any other persons,” a Conservative Party spokesman said.

The Gambling Commission has not confirmed the names of those under investigation. In a response to a request for comment on the Sunday Times report, a commission spokesperson said it would not provide details of its probe, including the identity of any individuals it is investigating.

Sunak said on Thursday he was “incredibly angry” to hear about the allegations against his party colleagues, calling them a “really serious matter.”

One of the Conservative candidates named in the scandal, Craig Williams, has already apologised for an error of judgment, and the party’s director of campaigning Tony Lee has taken a leave of absence.

A police officer working in a special protection unit has also been arrested over alleged bets on the election date. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Rod Nickel)

British opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer looks on as he visits Morrisons supermarket during a Labour general election campaign event in Wiltshire, Britain, June 19, 2024
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Two polls have found the UK’s Labour party was set to win a record-breaking number of seats and the incumbent Conservatives due for a historic drubbing in July’s general election.

With voters heading to the polls in just over two weeks time, the latest pair of nationwide surveys — by YouGov and Savanta/Electoral Calculus — showed Labour set to win either 425 or 516 out of 650 seats.

Either of the results would be the current opposition party’s best-ever return of MPs in a general election.

ALSO READ | Snap poll: On the surprise election announcement for the U.K.

Meanwhile, the twin polls showed support for the Tories — in power since 2010 — plummeting to unprecedented lows, with one estimating they would win just 53 seats.

The Savanta and Electoral Calculus survey for the Daily Telegraph newspaper predicted Rishi Sunak would become the first sitting U.K. prime minister ever to lose their seat at a general election.

The poll, which forecasts three-quarters of Mr. Sunak’s cabinet also losing their seats, would hand Labour a majority of 382 — more than double the advantage enjoyed by ex-prime minister Tony Blair in 1997.

It also showed the centrist Liberal Democrats just three seats behind the Conservatives on 50, and the Scottish National Party losing dozens of seats north of the English border.

Record Tory defeat?

The YouGov survey predicted Mr. Sunak’s party would win in just 108 constituencies.

That was a drop of 32 on its prediction from two weeks ago, reflecting how badly the Conservatives’ election campaign is perceived to have gone.

The 108 seats the Tories are predicted to win in the poll would still be their lowest number in the party’s near 200-year history of contesting U.K. elections.

Mr. Sunak is widely seen as having run a lacklustre and error-strewn campaign, including facing near-universal criticism earlier this month for leaving early from D-Day commemoration events in France.

In contrast, Labour leader Keir Starmer, set to become prime minister if his party prevails on July 4, has sought to play it safe and protect his party’s poll leads.

YouGov also found anti-EU populist Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party on course to win five seats, including in the Clacton constituency in eastern England where the Brexit figurehead is standing.

Mr. Farage has said he will attempt to co-opt what remains of the Conservative party if he is elected and it fares poorly on July 4.

Labour Leader Keir Starmer (centre), accompanied by Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and Naushabah Khan, Labour councillor for Gillingham and Rainham, speaks to the media on the first day of campaigning at Gillingham football club on May 23, 2024 in Gillingham, England.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Rishi Sunak, his Conservative Party colleagues and Opposition Labour Leader Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet hit the campaign trail with gusto on Thursday, a day after the British Prime Minister surprised many within his ranks by calling an election just six weeks away on July 4.

The 44-year-old British Indian leader’s rain-soaked speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Wednesday evening sent the political corridors of the country into a flurry of activity, with Mr. Sunak hitting the ground running with a campaign event in east London right after with his three poll pitches of “Clear Plan, Bold Action, Secure Future”.

ALSO READ | U.K. by-election results deliver double blow for PM Rishi Sunak

“Over the next few weeks, I will fight for every vote,” he pledged.

Asked by the BBC why he chose to fire the starting gun for the election race getting drenched in the pouring rain, Mr. Sunak replied that it showed that he is “not a fair-weather politician”.

“I believe very strongly in the traditions of our country. And when prime ministers make important statements like that, they do it on the steps of Downing Street come rain or shine. And I believe in those traditions and that’s why I did what I did,” he explained.

ALSO READ | On course for power, U.K.’s Opposition Labour prepares for a quick change

The Opposition Labour Party Leader, Mr. Starmer, kicked his campaign off with a simpler one-word message – “Change”.

“On July 4 you have the choice. And together, we can stop the chaos. We can turn the page. We can start to rebuild Britain, and change our country,” he declared.

Conservatives trailing

The reaction to a summer general election, which was not expected before October when Mr. Sunak would have completed three years in office as Prime Minister, has been mixed – with many Tory MPs fearful of losing their seats due to the anti-incumbency that has built up after 14 years of the party being in charge.

Almost every pre-election survey shows the governing Conservatives trailing behind Labour, which is holding a firm 20-point lead after securing decisive wins in the local elections held just earlier this month and seen as a sign of things to come.

“I am feeling quite emotional about all this. I was anticipating an autumn departure from Parliament and still had important issues to raise on behalf of my constituents between now and then. I am sad that I won’t now get to do that,” said Tracey Crouch, one of the backbench Tory MPs more vocal about the displeasure over the election timing.

“A great amount has been achieved over those 14 years and during this campaign, I look forward to speaking to voters about my record of delivery both locally and nationally,” said another backbench MP Priti Patel, who chose to be more positive.

Sunak’s gamble

Poll watchers believe that Mr. Sunak decided to take the gamble of an earlier election as he was convinced that nothing much would improve by the October-November timeline being pitched earlier. With inflation hitting a 2.3% mark this week, indicating an improvement in the cost-of-living crisis that has crippled the U.K. economy since the COVID pandemic, he decided to take the plunge into a trim six-week election campaign.

The economy will be the central plank of Sunak’s pitch to the nation, saying the inflation figures are “proof that the plan and priorities I set out are working”.

Immigration and investment in the defence sector will be some of his other key focus areas, claiming that the Opposition by contrast has no clear plan on these crucial issues.

The Labour Party, on the other hand, is on a slightly easier wicket with its focus being on how they plan to turn things around after the “chaos” of a Conservative Party-led government.

The British Parliament is now into just days of so-called “wash-up” when the government finalises and concludes non-contentious pieces of legislation before its dissolution next week. Under the timeline now set, a new Parliament is likely to be in place in the week following the election results on July 5.

A member of the Labour Party sits outside a polling station near Russell Square, central London London, during the local elections, on May 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.

Read Editorial: Two states: On the Palestine question and the U.K. 

Labour won control of councils in England it hasn’t held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament. Its only negative has been in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Oldham in northwest England, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer ‘s strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.

Perhaps of most importance in the context of the looming general election, Labour won Blackpool South, a long-time Labour seat in the northwest of England that went Conservative in the last general election in 2019, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a big victory. In the contest, triggered by the resignation of a Conservative lawmaker following a lobbying scandal, Labour’s Chris Webb secured 10,825 votes, 7,607 more than his second-placed Conservative opponent.

“This seismic win in Blackpool South is the most important result today,” Starmer said. “This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.”

Thursday’s elections were important in themselves, with voters deciding who will run many aspects of their daily lives, such as garbage collection, road maintenance and local crime prevention, in the coming years. But with a general election looming, they will be viewed through a national prism.

Starmer next Labour PM?

The results so far provide more evidence that Labour is likely to form the next government — and by quite a margin — and that Mr. Starmer will become Prime Minister.

As of early Friday, with barely a quarter of the 2,661 seats up for grabs counted, the Conservatives were down 115 while Labour was up 60. Labour has won in areas, which voted heavily for Britain’s departure from the European Union and where it was crushed by Johnson, such as Hartlepool in the northeast of England, and Thurrock in southeast England. It also seized control of Rushmoor, a leafy and military-heavy council in the south of England where it has never been in power.

John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the results so far indicate that the Conservatives are losing around half of the seats they are trying to defend.

“We are probably looking at certainly one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections for the last 40 years,” he told BBC radio.

The results will roll in through Saturday. Mr. Sunak hopes he can point to successes, notably in several key mayoral races, to douse talk that the Conservative Party will change its leader again before the United Kingdom’s main election, which could take place as soon as next month.

Key to his survival could be the results of mayoral elections in Tees Valley in the northeast of England and in the West Midlands. The former is due Friday midday and the latter on Saturday. Should Conservative mayors Andy Street and Ben Houchen hold on, he may win some respite from restive lawmakers in his party. Should both lose, he may face trouble. Labour’s Sadiq Khan is expected to remain mayor of London when results are announced on Saturday..

Mr. Sunak could preempt any challenge by threatening to call a general election that has to take place before January 2025. He has the power to decide on the date and has indicated that it will be in the second half of 2024.

Mr. Sunak became Prime Minister in October 2022 after the short-lived tenure of his predecessor, Liz Truss, who left office after 49 days following a budget of unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.

Her chaotic — and traumatic — leadership compounded the Conservatives’ difficulties following the circus surrounding her predecessor Johnson, who was forced to quit after being adjudged to have lied to Parliament over lockdown breaches at his offices in Downing Street.

Nothing Mr. Sunak has tried to do appears to have shifted the political dial, with Labour consistently 20 percentage points ahead in opinion polls, which would lead, if translated into a general election, to a landslide victory on a par with that achieved by Tony Blair in 1997.

London:

Britain’s ruling Conservative party is expected to suffer heavy losses in crunch local elections this week that are likely to increase pressure on beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The polls are the last major electoral test before a general election that Sunak’s party, in power since 2010, seems destined to lose to the Labour opposition.

Sunak has said he wants to hold the nationwide vote in the second half of the year, but bruising defeats in Thursday’s votes could force his hand earlier.

“These elections form a vital examination for the Sunak premiership — road-testing its claim that the plan is working and the degree to which voters still lend that notion any degree of credibility,” political scientist Richard Carr told AFP.

Incumbent governments tend to suffer losses in local contests and the Conservatives are forecast by pollsters to lose about half of the council seats they are defending.

Sunak’s immediate political future is said to rest on whether two high-profile Tory regional mayors get re-elected in the West Midlands and Tees Valley areas of central and northeast England.

Wins for the Conservative mayors, Andy Street and Ben Houchen, would boost hopes among Tory MPs that Sunak can turn around their party’s fortunes in time for the general election.

But speculation is rife in the UK parliament that a bad showing could lead some restive Conservative lawmakers to try to replace Sunak before the nationwide poll.

“If Andy Street and Ben Houchen both lose, any idea that Sunak can carry on is surely done,” said Carr, a politics lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University.

“Whether that means he rolls the dice on a general election or gets toppled remains to be seen.”

Factional infighting has plagued the Tories in recent years, serving up five prime ministers since the 2016 Brexit vote, including three in four months from July to October 2022.

A group of restive Conservative MPs have drawn up a “policy blitz” for a potential successor to Sunak in the event of massive losses this week, British media have reported.

Sunak To Be Replaced?

Some observers say it would be madness for the Conservatives to topple another leader when Sunak has provided some stability since succeeding Liz Truss in October 2022.

Others say the party’s credibility is already shot so why not try one last desperate throw of the dice to try to stop a predicted Labour landslide.

Some 52 MPs would need to submit letters of no confidence in Sunak to trigger an internal party vote to replace him — a tall ask.

“I still expect Sunak will lead the Conservatives into the general election,” Richard Hayton, a politics professor at Leeds University, told AFP.

“But some MPs may seek to move against him, which will further damage his standing with the general public.”

Sunak, 43, was an internal Tory appointment following Truss’s disastrous 49 days premiership in which her unfunded tax cuts caused market turmoil and sank the pound.

Despite numerous leadership resets under Sunak, the Tories have continued to trail Labour, led by Keir Starmer, by double digits in most opinion polls.

An Ipsos poll earlier this month put Sunak’s satisfaction rating at a joint all-time low of minus 59 percent.

More than 2,500 councillors are standing in England on Thursday, as well as London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan who is seeking a record third term in office.

Most of the council seats up for re-election were last contested in 2021, when ex-Tory premier Boris Johnson was popular as he rolled out Covid-19 vaccines.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

United Arab Emirates Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Mr. Sheikh Mansour has been a prominent figure in Britain since his 2008 takeover of soccer club Manchester City. File photo
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The United Kingdom government said on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, it will back legislation banning foreign state ownership of British newspapers and magazines, a move that could upend a planned takeover by a United Arab Emirates-led consortium of the Telegraph Media Group.

The development comes after numerous lawmakers from across the political divide urged an explicit ban, rather than using a regulatory approach to ensure that publications don’t parrot views of state actors.

The Minister in charge of media, Stephen Parkinson, said the government will introduce an amendment to the “Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill” currently making its way through Parliament.

The bill, which is expected to pass easily, will prevent the takeover of British publications by foreign governments. However, foreign individuals and firms will continue to be able to own papers and magazines.

“Freedom of the press is fundamental to a functioning democracy,” said Mr. Parkinson. “What freedom of the press means is freedom from government.”

The legislation stems from concern about the proposed takeover of the right-leaning and publications by RedBird IMI, which is backed by U.S. financial firm RedBird Capital Partners and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family, who is also the UAE’s vice president.

Sheikh Mansour has been a prominent figure in Britain since his 2008 takeover of soccer club Manchester City. His wealth has transformed the fortunes of City, taking the club from an also-ran in the English Premier League to a dominant force.

The proposed takeover of the Telegraph Media Group — The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph as well as The Spectator magazine — has also been subject to a separate investigation, ordered by the Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, due to its possible impact on press freedom. The Telegraph papers are closely allied to the governing Conservative Party.

The takeover has been opposed by Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson, who welcomed the government’s decision to introduce the ban.

‘Press freedom compromised’

“If governments start to own newspapers, whether they’re British governments, European governments or an Arab government, you end up with press freedom compromised fatally,” he told Sky News.

“In journalism, one of the maxims is follow the money and if that money leads to the Abu Dhabi government, then you’ve got a pretty big problem when it comes to press freedom,” Mr. Nelson added.

In a statement, RedBird IMI, which has made six investments in the U.S. and the U.K., said the company was “extremely disappointed” by the government’s decision as it believed the U.K.’s media industry was worthy of more investment.

“As with each of our deals, we have been clear that the acquisition of The Telegraph and The Spectator has been a fully commercial undertaking,” it said. “We will now evaluate our next steps, with commercial interests continuing to be the sole priority.”