>>"The Telegraph is MSM so left-leaning," you have got to be joking. the telegraph is owned by the Barclay brothers from their private no tax island in the English Channel. Both are extremely right wing. The telegraph is the loudest of cheerleaders for Boris Johnson and the ship of fools he calls his cabinet. Your depth of knowledge of UK media is to say the least a shallow puddle.

Every published study associates MSM with left-leaning tendency so it's a shame this truism distracts from the intended point and justifies a personal attack.

While I obviously agree with your observation re the right wing Barclay family itself, the Torygraph's treatment of COVID has been the opposite, characterized by regular criticism of current government. Review articles in May and you're more likely to see a Shadow Minister berating government for this or that without a conservative in sight. For any recent pro-government COVID sentiment you can show me in the Telegraph- assuming you can find even one- I expect I can show you 5 critical versions. It's been decidedly left-leaning and not the slavish Tory support your response seems to imply.

And then suddenly it sticks a knife in the left's favourite lockdown COVID response.

I suppose you could interpret that as just another attack on incumbent government, but that's not your argument, is it?

So what's going on? Despite the illegal use of subscription data for electioneering you mention that copped the Torygraph a stiff fine- perhaps the Barclay's meant it when they declared after purchase that the Telegraph no longer would be the house journal for conservatives and that they'd agree with government only when it is correct?

Overall I'd suggest it's entirely possible- even proper- for an owner to offer political support in one direction without slavishly espousing all the policies or insisting that editors and journalists follow suit. Of course you can vote or publish in one direction while supporting policies in the other and one of the signs of Fake News is the loss of ability to do exactly this.