[15] The Daily Telegraph and Courier was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 to air a personal grievance against the future commander-in-chief of the British Army, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge.

[17] Hunt laid out the newspaper's principles in a memorandum sent to Levy: "We should report all striking events in science, so told that the intelligent public can understand what has happened and can see its bearing on our daily life and our future.

[19] In 1908, The Daily Telegraph printed an article in the form of an interview with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany that damaged Anglo-German relations and added to international tensions in the build-up to World War I.

Originally William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, bought The Morning Post with the intention of publishing it alongside The Daily Telegraph, but poor sales of the former led him to merge the two.

In June 2014, The Telegraph was criticised by Private Eye for its policy of replacing experienced journalists and news managers with less-experienced staff and search engine optimisers.

[37] As of 2014,[needs update] the paper was paid £900,000 a year to include the supplement Russia Beyond the Headlines, a publication sponsored by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government's official newspaper.

Oborne accused the paper of a "form of fraud on its readers"[39] for its coverage of the bank HSBC in relation to a Swiss tax-dodging scandal that was widely covered by other news media.

[40] Oborne cited other instances of advertising strategy influencing the content of articles, linking the refusal to take an editorial stance on the repression of democratic demonstrations in Hong Kong to the Telegraph's support from China.

[41] Press Gazette reported later in 2015 that Oborne had joined the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper and The Telegraph had "issued new guidelines over the way editorial and commercial staff work together".

[44] In October 2017, a number of major western news organisations whose coverage had irked Beijing were excluded from Xi Jinping's speech event launching a new politburo.

[55] The Guardian reported in 2018 that the China Watch supplement was being carried by The Telegraph along with other newspapers of record such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Le Figaro.

[57] In April 2020, The Telegraph removed China Watch from its website, along with another advertisement feature section by Chinese state-run media outlet People's Daily Online.

"[70] In November 2023, the journalist and climate activist group DeSmog published its judgments for coverage of environmental topics in 171 of The Telegraph's opinion pieces from April to October 2023.

A plan to overhaul the Commons standard and spare Paterson from being suspended and a possible recall petition that follows was leaked to the newspaper and it was "approvingly" splashed across the paper's front page.

Boris Johnson flew back from the COP 26 summit in Glasgow to attend a Telegraph journalists' reunion at the Garrick and left the club with Moore the same evening.

[73][additional citation(s) needed] In June 2023, The Guardian and other newspapers reported that, following a breakdown in discussions relating to a financial dispute, Lloyds Bank was planning to take control of the companies owning the Telegraph titles and the Spectator and sell them off.

Conservative MPs raised national security concerns, and pushed the government to investigate the bid, as the United Arab Emirates had a poor reputation for freedom of speech.

[82][83] Conservative MPs also called on Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden to use the National Security and Investment Act 2021 to investigate the Emirati-backed bid.

[84] Chairman Andrew Neil threatened to quit if the sale was approved, saying: "You cannot have a major mainstream newspaper group owned by an undemocratic government or dictatorship where no one has a vote.

"[86] In March 2024, the Lords voted in a new law, under which restrictions were imposed on foreign governments regarding the ownership of British newspapers and magazines, including only being allowed up to a 0.1 per cent stake.

[92][93] On 17 January 2025, David Castelblanco, a partner at the Abu Dhabi fund RedBird, urged The Telegraph to make significant job cuts, including over 100 non-editorial roles.

He also accused the UK government of “foot-dragging” the process due to fear of upsetting the Emirates, and asked for an explanation about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

[95] Sir Ed Davey also called for the Cultural Secretary Lisa Nandy to set a deadline for The Telegraph’s sale, and urged the ministers to ensure that the Abu Dhabi fund is “not improperly meddling in the meantime”.

[113] In 2012, prior to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, Telegraph View published an editorial stating that it was a "pointless distraction" as "many [gay couples] already avail themselves of the civil partnerships introduced by Labour".

Since then, The Telegraph appeared to shift towards a more liberal attitude on LGBT+ issues, publishing articles that then-Prime Minister Theresa May needed to be "serious about LGBT equality"[120] and that "bathroom bills" in Texas – which were criticised as being transphobic – were "a Kafkaesque state intrusion".

Launched in 1990, the award-winning supplement also ran original serialised stories featuring popular brands such as Young Indiana Jones and the British children's sitcom Maid Marian and Her Merry Men.

Derek Bishton, who by then had succeeded Rooney as editor, later wrote: "In the days before ET it would have been highly unlikely that anyone in the US would have been aware of Evans-Pritchard's work – and certainly not to the extent that the White House would be forced to issue such a lengthy rebuttal.

"[144] Following this revelation, Cable had his responsibility for media affairs – including ruling on Murdoch's takeover plans – withdrawn from his role as business secretary.

In September 2016, Telegraph reporters posing as businessmen filmed England manager Sam Allardyce offering to give advice on how to get around on FA rules on player third party ownership and negotiating a £400,000 deal.

[150] Denise Bates included The Daily Telegraph in a list of national newspapers which, because of the quality of their reporting, or the extent of their audience, stand out and are likely to be used for historical research.