MARTIN NEWLAND resigned as Editor of The Daily Telegraph yesterday after a series of rows about interference by Murdoch MacLennan, the newspaper’s chief executive.

The end of Mr Newland’s two-year stint came days after Mr MacLennan ordered that an editorial backing David Cameron for the Conservative Party leadership be dropped, and just after the unexpected appointment of an editor-in-chief.

Journalists at the newspaper had spent several weeks considering who it should back in the leadership battle. On Friday last week, as Mr Cameron appeared to have moved into a decisive lead, Mr Newland thought it was time formally to endorse him.

However, although the editorial was prepared for publication, journalists at the newspaper say that it was dropped because Mr MacLennan wanted to allow the leadership battle to develop further.

Sir David Barclay, one of the twin brothers who own The Daily Telegraph, asked another newspaper to point out that “neither he nor his brother Frederick intervened in The Daily Telegraph’s deliberations”. But Aidan Barclay, Sir David’s son and the chairman of the Telegraph group, is likely to have been consulted.

At the same time Mr Newland was embroiled in a dispute after the decision by Mr MacLennan to install John Bryant from the Daily Mail as Editor-in-Chief of the daily and Sunday papers. It was the most high-profile in a series of senior appointments about which Mr Newland, 44, was not consulted. Mr Newland said: “Editing The Daily Telegraph has been a privilege . . . I would like to thank Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay and Aidan Barclay for their kindness and good wishes.”

Bryant, 61, will become acting editor until a replacement is found.

The obvious internal candidates are Jeff Randall, editor-at-large, Simon Heffer, associate editor, and Will Lewis, one of two deputy editors.

Sarah Sands, who recently moved to edit The Sunday Telegraph, and Neil Darbyshire, another deputy editor, are likely to be considered.

Mr Newland was appointed Telegraph Editor by Conrad Black in October 2003. Two months later the Canadian press baron was forced to step down from the board after accusations of fraud in the US and Canada. Lord Black has denied any wrongdoing.

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