Glover: Any new Indy owner must understand purpose

Stephen Glover today responds in his column in the Independent to speculation that the paper he helped found might be sold.

He says that he has “lost count of the number of times rivals and pundits have informed readers that The Independent was on its last legs.”

Responding to a report in The Times last Tuesday suggesting the paper was up for sale he says: “If Lord Rothermere is forced to flog the London Evening Standard, which he and his father had particularly cherished, it is not unimaginable that Sir Anthony will also have to steel his heart.”

But he can shed no light on whether Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, former KGB man Alexander Lebedev or another as yet unknown buyer will come forward to the buy the paper, which is thought to lose £10m a year.

“I only hope that a new owner of this newspaper, if there is one, understands its origins and purposes, and does not fall under the charms of a snake-oil salesman who simply wants to make money out of the arrangement and does not care for The Independent at all.”