[devo22]

Boris Johnson and Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, denied Government interference prior to the £305 million deal being approved in October 2021. However, leaked messages from Amanda Staveley, who brokered the sale, now suggest top-level state interventions from both Saudi Arabia and the UK behind the scenes.

WhatsApps sent by Staveley suggest that Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler, was signing off key decisions within the takeover, while Lord Grimstone, then minister for investment in the UK, “pushed behind the scenes” for the deal to be approved. Ms Staveley also detailed enlisting the help of the Saudi ambassador to the UK to rescue the deal in April 2021. That same month Mr Johnson, then Prime Minister, said his government “was not involved at any point in the takeover talks on the sale of Newcastle” in a written parliamentary answer.

The sale eventually went through after the Premier League was given “legally binding assurances” that the Saudi state would not be in control of Newcastle. However, MPs, who had repeatedly raised concerns at the time, reacted with concern to revelations in The Telegraph which shed fresh light on negotiations.

Newcastle Central MP, Chi Onwurah, said it now seems “unlikely” that Mr Johnson was “telling the truth” when he stated in a parliamentary answer to her in April 2021: “The Government was not involved at any point in the takeover talks on the sale of Newcastle.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...hatsapp-leaks/