Speaking over the phone to BuzzFeed News, Bannon said he envisaged the Catholic Herald taking the place of recent conservative US publications that had shut. He also said the magazine’s co-owner was defending the “Judeo-Christian West”.



“I met with Rocco and his team at the Breitbart Embassy in DC,” Bannon told BuzzFeed News, using a nickname for the right-wing website's Capitol Hill HQ. “The US version of the Catholic Herald can have a massive impact, especially with the demise of the Weekly Standard and other conservative periodicals.

“These are sophisticated people with a sophisticated publication if they follow the lead of the Spectator with their American edition. The defense of the Judeo-Christian West starts people like Rocco taking bold action like this.”

Weeks before the Washington meeting with the directors of the Catholic Herald, Bannon was also in London, staying in the luxurious Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair.

The five-star hotel near Buckingham Palace is one of the properties owned by Forte.

Answering questions on behalf of Forte, the Catholic Herald said he “had no prior knowledge” of Bannon’s stay at his London hotel just days before the two met in Washington.

“Sir Rocco Forte had no prior knowledge of Steve Bannon ever staying at Brown's Hotel and Bannon paid in full as a normal client,” the Herald’s Andy Leisinger said in a statement.

“He had no contact with Rocco or his office in regards to the hotel stay. Bannon was just a regular hotel client choosing to stay at the hotel.”