Desmond fired the first carefully placed warning shot across the bow of any potential bidder for the Hollinger-owned titles by claiming he would prevent it using the West Ferry print site in Londons docklands after its contract runs out in 2009.

Although The Telegraph and Express Newspapers jointly own the site, Desmond has the right to buy the remaining 50% stake in West Ferry if The Telegraph undergoes a change of ownership.

The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph are contracted to be produced at Docklands-based West Ferry until 2009, but Desmond said that he would not renew the agreement after that time.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper Desmond said that he needs the print capacity for his own papers The Daily Star and Daily Express.

But Desmond is believed to be interested in making his own bid for the Telegraph group, meaning his carefully placed comments could detract other potential bidders for the paper.

Industry sources suggest that although any new owner of the Telegraph Group could find spare print capacity across four or five plants to produce the papers in the M25 area, it represents a complex and unattractive option for a daily national newspaper group.

Another option would be to build a new print operation but this could cost around 300m.

In the year to December 2002 West Ferry Printers made a pre-tax profit of 13m on a turnover of nearly 80m. Almost 30% of its revenue comes from printing the Telegraph.

*The auction of the Telegraph Group has reopened after a US court blocked the sale of the papers to the Barclay Brothers, owners of the Scotsman and the Business newspapers.