麻豆约拍

The former chief political commentator of The Telegraph Peter Oborne said the newspaper has questions to answer over the relationship between its editorial board and advertisers.

Oborne accused the newspaper of a "form of fraud on its readers" for its coverage of HSBC and its Swiss tax-dodging scandal, claiming the paper did not give due prominence to the HSBC story because of commercial interests.

He said he had already resigned from the paper "as a matter of conscience" because a number of its editorial decisions.

The Telegraph called Oborne's statement an "astonishing and unfounded attack, full of inaccuracy and innuendo".

Oborne queried the newspaper's relationship with HSBC, one of its main advertisers.

"It looks to an outsider very much as if HSBC is using advertising as a tool to suppress free speech," he said.