At first glance, it seemed same old, same old. Britain’s print media backed their usual teams when Rishi Sunak announced an election this week. Yet, behind the scenes, much has changed, not least the fact that the party’s traditional supporters on the right are distracted by another battle: one for the soul of the Conservative party and also their own futures.

Britain’s newspapers face an unusual terrain of shifting ownerships and loyalties, making this election one of the most fascinating for years. The battle is no longer just about Labour versus Conservative, but different factions of the Conservative party itself. And it’s a fight that will be televised for the first time by GB News, the opinionated upstart TV channel facing regulatory sanctions over its lack of impartiality.

The best example of a newspaper in a state of flux both internally and externally is one that matters more than most to the party in power. While the Daily Telegraph’s news coverage yesterday offered the sort of in-depth reporting it was once known for, a slew of opinion columns went on the attack. Under the headline, “There are just 1,000 hours to save Britain”, Allister Heath went after Labour’s “socialist agenda” and the “tyranny of the out of touch pro-Labour elite”. He urged Sunak to take on “human rights lawyers” and not just the one leading a rival party.

All newspapers tend to reflect the views of their owners as much as their readers, which makes the position of the Telegraph all the more........

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