A two-month Telegraph campaign against Qatar coincided with the paper's owners battling with Doha for ownership of three hotels.
When the Telegraph newspapers ran a two-month long campaign last year accusing Qatar of funding terrorism in the Middle East, its owners were engaged in a fierce battle with the Gulf state for control of three five-star hotels in London, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The Telegraph’s “Stop the Funding of Terror” series targeted Doha for having allegedly provided material support for Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, among others groups – allegations the Gulf State has regularly faced in recent years.
In the same period billionaire British identical twins Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, who bought the Telegraph Media Group in 2004, were engaged in a jet-setting battle for control of luxury Mayfair hotels Claridge’s, The Berkeley and The Connaught. It was a battle fought in glamorous locations across the globe – including Los Angeles, London and Monte Carlo – and involved Irish rock star Bono, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and flamboyant Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal.
The Barclays’ opponent in the hotel struggle was senior Qatari royal Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, who is popularly known as HBJ. It was a four-year long fight the Barclays ultimately lost, because at the end of April this year an arm of the Qatar Investment Authority finalised the purchase of the three landmark London hotels, in a deal thought to be worth more than £1bn.