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Depending on how you look at it, Charles Moore is either eminently suitable or utterly out of place at the helm of The Daily Telegraph.

With his Eton education and his partiality to country pursuits, he fits the image of the paper like a white silk glove. But when he was appointed - following Max Hastings' departure to the Evening Standard in 1995 - there were mutterings that Moore's perceived membership of the establishment promised little prospect of the title keeping pace with a country going through the significant changes of the late 90s.

Moore, who began as a Telegraph reporter in 1979, hasn't spent his entire career at the title, but outside stints at The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator didn't take him terribly far from the fold.

As if to prove the grumblers wrong, Moore this week unveils the most profound redesign of the paper since the mid 80s. At first glance, this would seem like an odd time to make changes. The Telegraph dominates the broadsheets, having succeeded in beating off Rupert Murdoch's most recent price challenge.

Its self-confidence is evident to advertisers from the bullish release of comparative sections research this year.

However, these strengths don't disguise the fact that The Telegraph's long-term challenge is still to be met. The paper's readership is getting long in the tooth and a new, youthful generation of devoted followers is yet to sign up.

Circulation has remained static for some time and last week slipped back below the one million mark. Tim Kirkman, Carat's press director, says of the redesign: 'They're looking for some way to make the paper sharper and recruit younger readers without alienating the brigadiers. They don't want to end up like The Sunday Express where the readers get old and die.'

The need to get The Telegraph into shape is made more pressing by the rumours of an imminent showdown in the broadsheet market. The Times, fresh from an upgrade of printing quality, seems poised for another round of price slashing.

Add to that the loss of ads flowing in from dotcoms and a likely 5 per cent rise in newsprint costs, and 2001 could see a real test of The Telegraph's strength. 'Papers will try to pass on the extra print costs and advertisers will say no,' Kirkman says.

As far as toning The Telegraph's offering is concerned, the redesign puts the seal on two innovations that Moore has championed since his accession.

The sections, successfully expanded over the past few years, are now given a more navigable format, with clearly defined front pages for each area and an index on page two.

'Papers are so much larger than they used to be,' Moore says. 'People get bewildered and irritated if you don't direct them and give them proper signposts.'

Moore's second priority is one that he sees as crucial to maintaining The Telegraph's leadership over The Times - the continual sharpening of the comment pages, in this case by reducing the number of opinion pieces on the spread.

'The Times comment pages have become very bland,' he says. 'It is important to provide strong views.' Moore seems untouched by the suggestion that The Telegraph's own strong views make it inaccessible to those not of a Eurosceptic disposition. 'We're not like the Daily Mail where nothing appears that disagrees with the paper's world view,' he says.

Moore's interior changes may be significant in tweaking The Telegraph's appeal versus The Times, but the most eyebrow-raising change this week is on the front page. Moore has raised The Telegraph's 'skyline' of flagged pieces from the issue above the paper's own logo in a bid to trumpet its editorial strengths more effectively. The skyline will also lose its distinctive blue strip, which Moore believes was a bit of a 'downer'.

It might also be the case that the royal blue is identified with the Conservatives and if The Telegraph really wants to reach out to younger readers, it might be advisable to not scream the paper's political alignment from the front page.

Will a new cover and a redesign be enough to convince younger readers who are suspicious of the paper's conservative credentials? This seems unlikely when Moore remains so confident about the paper's editorial positioning - despite design tweaks, The Telegraph will live or die by the strength of its core, Middle England constituency.

But Moore seems happy to take a chance. 'It has galvanised people,' he says of Labour's general election victory. 'Most people are suspicious of the Government now, although they weren't to start with.

This is a vigorous time and there's a lot to talk about - the Dome, Europe, the countryside. Sparks are flying.'

THE MOORE FILE

1979: The Daily Telegraph, reporter

1983: The Daily Telegraph, assistant editor and political columnist

1984: The Spectator, editor

1990: The Daily Telegraph, deputy editor

1992: The Sunday Telegraph, editor

1995: The Daily Telegraph, editor.