Who is Sir Paul Marshall, the man buying The Spectator magazine?
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One of the main financial backers of GB News has finalised a deal to buy the world’s oldest magazine, despite having previously made headlines himself for engaging with extreme right-wing content on social media.
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In Brief…
- Sir Paul Marshall has confirmed a £100 million deal to buy The Spectator. He also hopes to buy The Telegraph.
- He has previously shared anti-Islam, anti-immigration and homophobic content on X/Twitter, but a spokesperson claimed this did not reflect his views.
- Lewis Goodall of The News Agents said in early 2024 that sharing these views posed “serious questions” about his suitability to continue buying into the UK’s media landscape.
What's the story?
One of the biggest financial supporters of GB News has confirmed a deal to buy the Spectator magazine for £100 million.
Sir Paul Marshall who, as well as his TV channel already owns right-wing opinion website UnHerd, is also in the running to buy The Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.
The Spectator is a right-wing political publication, and is known as being the oldest magazine in the world, having first been published in 1828.
"His stable of media products now shows he's becoming a very big figure on the right of politics and in conservative politics," says Lewis Goodall.
GB News has been celebrated and applauded by Conservative politicians, and not just the ones who host their own programmes on the channel.
The station has been referred to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom on 23 occasions, over serious concerns for the content it was broadcasting, including breaking impartiality rules.
But as well as making the news for television and online. Marshall has made the news himself, when some of his interactions online came to light earlier this year.
EXCLUSIVE: Could The Telegraph be bought by a political extremist?
What happened on Twitter/X?
In early 2024, Marshall was found to have liked and retweeted far-right content, including conspiracy theories and extremist content online.
This was uncovered by left-wing activist group, Hope Not Hate, which partnered with The News Agents to reveal his activities on social media.
The group found he had set his personal Twitter account to private, and changed its name and removed all details linking it to him.
At the time the details were revealed, Lewis Goodall said it may "call into question his suitability to head-up these businesses".
It certainly does not seem to have affected his purchase of The Spectator.
In a comment issued on behalf of Marshall, when his activity was brought to light, a spokesperson stated: "He posts on a wide variety of subjects and those cited represent a small and unrepresentative sample of over 5,000 posts. This sample does not represent his views."
The "extreme" content shared or liked on Marshall's account included comments on Islam, immigration and integration.
He had also engaged with far-right British nationalist accounts, and a US-based anti-Islam campaigner sharing conspiracy theories.
Other content he shared linked "evil homosexuality" with "corrupting children".
🗞️ Exclusive
— The News Agents (@TheNewsAgents) February 22, 2024
An investigation into a powerful figure in British media, Sir Paul Marshall, has found him engaging with extremist content on Twitter.
The super-rich @GBNEWS investor is a reported frontrunner to buy The Telegraph and Spectator.
@lewis_goodall | @hopenothate pic.twitter.com/U9XpGoKtSK
What's The News Agents’ take?
"The concerns about Marshall from the moderate wing of the Conservative Party have been that he has been accused of not being a conservative, but being a very radical sort of voice on the right of British politics," says Lewis.
He describes GB News as having taken a "Trump-ian" approach to news coverage in the UK.
"There is a concern that he is trying to kind of change the firmament of traditional right wing, or centre-right publications in this country, including The Telegraph, and pushing it in the more radical direction, and thereby exerting a very profound influence on the Conservative Party."
The News Agents brought Marshall’s online activity to light in February 2024.
When Marshall was contacted by The News Agents for comment, many of his retweets and likes disappeared from the account.
"In fairness, Sir Paul is not a frequent tweeter himself. He just likes and retweets other material," said Lewis at the time.
"But all of this does pose serious questions, potentially, about the suitability of Sir Paul to buy these businesses."
He also shared concerns that the extreme content Marshall shared could pass by unnoticed by the many influential people who followed his account.
"Given the fact that so many journalists and politicians follow this account – he has over 5,000 followers – the fact they may have seen this material, and nonetheless no one really seemed to notice it, does speak (to some extent) of the normalisation of some of these views within our society."
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