When the Barclay brothers bought the Telegraph titles in 2004 the new ownership was supposed to usher in a period of stability after their predecessor, the Canadian press baron Conrad Black, was sued by his own company. He was eventually sentenced to six and a half years in a US prison for fraud before being granted a pardon by Donald Trump.
And at first the new proprietors — Sir Frederick and Sir David — enjoyed success. They were well known in the City but were regarded as secretive. They were tough negotiators and had already dabbled in the press with the doomed Sunday Business, but their main interests seemed to be in property. Their most obvious trait was a desire for privacy. What did they want with a newspaper? The trappings of the London media world seemed of little interest.
