News International, owner of The Times and The Sun, will print the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph on three new presses at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, Knowsley in Liverpool and Eurocentral at Motherwell.
It will allow the Telegraph Group to print full colour pages in every page of its titles. At present, the Telegraph's southern editions are printed at West Ferry, east London, in a joint venture between the group and Express Newspapers.
The West Ferry printing arrangement has previously been the source of great controversy. In 2004, Desmond fell out with Telegraph management when, at a West Ferry meeting, he goose-stepped around the boardroom and ridiculed Telegraph executives for considering a sale to the German media group Axel Springer.
The Telegraph Group was subsequently sold to the Barclay brothers, giving Desmond the option to buy the Telegraph's stake in the West Ferry print plant. However, Desmond passed on the opportunity to become the sole owner of the plant.
The Telegraph said it intends to maintain a printing facility at West Ferry, but Desmond has hit out at the move, claiming it is comparable to the stake News International bought in ITV earlier this year as yet another example of its monopoly on British media.
He said: "A couple of months ago it was ITV. Now it is the Telegraph. This is part of a creeping agenda for Rupert Murdoch to take over the British media."
The Telegraph said the decision follows a "detailed study of the options available" for the installation of new presses at West Ferry.
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