In February 2018 Trinity Mirror acquired the Daily Express, and other publishing assets of Northern & Shell, in a deal worth £126.7 million.

[22][23] During the late 1930s, the paper advocated the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain's National Government, due to the influence of Lord Beaverbrook.

[26] In 1938, the publication moved to the Daily Express Building, Manchester (nicknamed the "Black Lubyianka"), designed by Owen Williams on the same site in Great Ancoats Street.

[31] In March 1962, Beaverbrook was attacked in the House of Commons for running "a sustained vendetta" against the British Royal Family in the Express titles.

"[33] At the height of Beaverbrook's control, in 1948, he told a Royal Commission on the press that he ran his papers "purely for the purpose of making propaganda".

[39] In 1982, Trafalgar House spun off its publishing interests to a new company, Fleet Holdings, under Lord Matthews, but this succumbed to a hostile takeover by United Newspapers in 1985.

On 31 October 2005, UK Media Group Entertainment Rights secured majority interest from the Daily Express for Rupert Bear.

[44] Hitchens moved to The Mail on Sunday, saying working for the new owner was a moral conflict of interest since he had always attacked the pornographic magazines that Desmond published.

[47] Since payments to the NPA fund the Press Complaints Commission, it is possible that the Express and its sister papers could cease being regulated by the PCC.

The chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance, which manages PCC funds, described Express Newspapers as a "rogue publisher".

[49] In late 2008, Express Newspapers began cutting 80 jobs to reduce costs by £2.5 million; however, too few staff were willing to take voluntary redundancy.

The ASA noted that the pieces were "always and uniquely favourable to the product featured in the ads and contained claims that have been or were likely to be prohibited in advertisements".

This led to comment that the Express has become "the Ryanair of Fleet Street", in that it is a "frequent offender" which pays little heed to the ASA's criticisms.

On 31 December 2010, the Express, with all the media titles in Desmond's Northern & Shell group, were excluded from the Press Complaints Commission after withholding payment.

[61] In February 2018, Trinity Mirror acquired the Daily Express, and other publishing assets of Northern & Shell, in a deal worth £126.7 million.

[65] Suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams was arrested in 1956, accused of murdering up to 400 wealthy patients in Eastbourne.

[66] The press, "egged on by police leaks, unanimously declared Adams guilty," except for Percy Hoskins, chief crime reporter for the Express.

The article criticised the 18-year-old survivors for posting "shocking blogs and photographs of themselves on the internet", revealing that they drank alcohol, made rude gestures and talked about their sex lives.

[citation needed] The Daily Express gained a reputation for printing conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales as front-page news.

Though the family initially said some journalists may have "overstepped their mark" they acknowledged the benefits in keeping the case in the public eye,[79] but said coverage needed to be toned down since daily headlines were not necessarily helpful.

[81] Guardian media commentator Roy Greenslade said it was "unprecedented" for four major newspapers to offer front-page apologies but also said it was more than warranted given that the papers had committed "a substantial libel" that shamed the British press.

"[84] In its apology, the Express said "a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up.

We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

[86] In 2013, the paper launched a "crusade" against new European Union rules on migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, inviting readers to sign a petition against lifting restrictions on immigration.

[93] In a statement released by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 24 April 2015, the tabloid's name was mentioned in an accusation of producing hate speech, initially referring to an article in The Sun: "...To give just one glimpse of the scale of the problem, back in 2003 the Daily Express ran 22 negative front pages stories about asylum seekers and refugees in a single 31-day period" ... "..the High Commissioner noted that Article 20 of the ICCPR, as well as elements relating to hate speech in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination* (both of which have been ratified by the UK, as well as by all other EU countries), were rooted in the desire to outlaw the type of anti-Semitic and other racially based hate speech used by the Nazi media during the 1930s".

[94] Appearing in April 2018 before Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee, which was investigating the treatment of minority groups in print media, Daily Express editor Gary Jones said that he would be looking to change the tone of the paper.

Jones said that he had found past pages of the newspaper "downright offensive," adding that they made him feel "very uncomfortable" and contributed to an "Islamophobic sentiment" in the media.

[111] The campaign attracted the support of many celebrities including sportsman/TV personality Ian Botham[112] as well as J D Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin,[113] who both gave interviews for 8 January's special edition of the paper.