Game-changing masterstroke or act of desperation? The Barclay family's use of RedBird IMI, an Abu Dhabi-backed vehicle, to repay a decades-old debt to Lloyds Banking Group either marks the denouement in the battle for control of The Daily Telegraph, or just another stagingpost on a tumultuous path to new ownership.

It increasingly looks like the former. If Lloyds can get comfortable with the provenance of the funds in the next eight days, it will bite the Barclays' hands off. To recoup £1.16bn from a tricky customer in messy default over a protracted period would be some achievement indeed for Charlie Nunn, the bank's chief executive.

The appearance of Jeff Zucker, the former CNN president, as the figurehead fronting the Barclays' deal undoubtedly adds credibility. Yet it also presents a layer of complication: RedBird IMI, the vehicle Mr Zucker runs, is roughly 75%-funded by Abu Dhabi investors, meaning that the loans' rapid conversion to equity will result in the Telegraph being owned by Gulfbased financiers.

A number of MPs and peers - some of whom have close links to Sir Paul Marshall, the Marshall Wace cofounder and rival Telegraph bidder - have demanded that ministers issue a public interest intervention notice (PIIN), which would subject a transaction to a potentially lengthy government probe.

Yesterday, they got their wish from an obliging culture secretary. It was hard to envisage the culture secretary failing to scrutinise such a deal a year before an election in which the Tories will need the Telegraph to help get Tory voters out in force.

The probe arising from the PIIN will not be quick, though. Politics - and the Westminster connections of rival suitors - mean the final chapter of the Telegraph story may still not go to press for some time.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper