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Lord Rothermere, the controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail, is thought to have refreshed interest in the auction having previously walked away citing inevitable competition objections from regulators and a new Labour government.

Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail and General Trust told the FT earlier this month that it was interested in the Telegraph group, which fell into the hands of receivers this summer.

To some press critics, however, the disappearance of the Johnson story underlines an unhealthy closeness between the government and the powerful pro-Tory newspaper proprietors in Britain, which include Mr. Murdoch and The Mail’s publisher, Jonathan Harmsworth, also known as the Fourth Viscount Rothermere.

A spokesman for the Daily Mail, which is owned by the Rothermere family, did not reply to a request for comment.

Meghan took direct aim at Lord Jonathan Rothermere, owner of the Mail on Sunday, saying he had broken the law.