Conrad Black kept the flame alive. Let us hope the Barclays can, too

The Barclay Brothers, it seems, have acquired the Daily Telegraph. And also, it should be said, The Spectator. What an incredible thing. Whatever their shortcomings as newspapermen — I shall be coming on to that — no one could deny the brilliance of their coup. Suitors were queuing ten deep to buy the Telegraph Group, and sums as high as £600 million had been mentioned. Meanwhile the Barclays were talking in secret to Conrad Black. They have bought his 30 per cent stake in Hollinger International, which owns the Telegraph Group, for a mere £260 million. This gives them (since Lord Black had fixed things in his favour) 73 per cent of the voting rights in the company. In effect they control the Telegraph titles having paid about half the amount of money they would have had to shell out in order to buy them outright. Their writ also runs over the Chicago Sun Times, the Jerusalem Post and some smaller titles.