The Sun newspaper ditches Labour in favour of the Conservatives
The Sun newspaper is tomorrow ditching the Labour party and coming out in favour of the Conservatives.
Having the backing of the Sun is seen as crucial to the success of political parties, the paper is of course still extremely unpopular in Merseyside, but is still the country's biggest selling daily.
I've commented in the past on the way Gordon Brown can never regain the initiative, and here is another example.
On a day when he does just about enough in his conference speech then this happens.
Another (fatal) hammer blow to his premiership.
12 Comments
Leave a comment
Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
Read My Posts »
Read it and weep, Ronnie, read it and weep. Can't wait to read the "Dossier of Labour Failures" in the morning.
...actually, to tell you the truth, no. I've never bought The Sun and never will, but many other millions of ex-Labour voters will buy it and think exactly the same. Brown is finished.
Too late Sunny, oh dear it took you 14 minutes to think..."Oh no, what have I said, they will all know I am going to buy the Sun in the morning" Streetwise after the event methinks...14 minutes after.
I'll get your coat.
Ooh ooh what have i done, honestly I am not buying The Sun ohh I have to post something quick..oh i forgot to put the email...ohh no I haven't done the URL...ohh quick quick, really I have never bought the Sun never wll ohh dear why won't this post. Oh the Captcha thing..is that a q or a g? RETRY???!!!..oh it doesn't work ohh noooo!
I'm not going to buy the Suuuuuuun!!!! snif sob.
Hilarious? More like pathetic...is that the best you can do, Mr Corbett? I know that you won't be buying it either so there's no point arguing about it. Getting back to the real issue, i.e. Bartletts veiw that this is a [fatal] blow to his Premiership, it's about time that you took a reality check on where Labour are heading...nowhere. It seems, even after GB's "make or break" speech at Conference, like the Labour leadership contest is a dead cert. Disagree?
Now, now Sweep wise, stop being a scamp or you'll get no more sausages and I'll take your waterworks pistol off you.( Ooh I have to find a way to get it in again that I won't buy the Sun...I know I'll say tha I know he won't either, that will work)
So Sweep these millions of ex Labour voters reading the Sun, if they are ex Labour voters they were not going to vote Labour anyway, and your daily newspaper is now telling all these millions to vote Conservative. I wonder if they mention the Lib Dems or do they think they are of no significance...let me know when you have read it. (DoooooHhhhh!)
Ok Sunwise, it's getting late now you had best go to bed if you want to be up early to buy your paper. I wouldn't buy it myself of course, ( no neither would I never have done...oh why won't they believe me?) but I may pinch yours from your rcycling bin.
Here's a Lullaby to send you off to sleep unless you listen to a tape of Cleggs speeches.
Sunwise, Sunset, sunwise sunset, drifting through the years.....
Any chance of a job by the way?
Say bye bye.
I think all political parties would prefer it if national newspapers declared for them, rather than others.
But if we are honest, do newspapers have the power now that they had in 1997? People now have the internet and online news, they have 24 hour TV news, and radio.
How many people do read the Sun? I am told 1 million fewer now than in 1997 for instance.
So how much difference will it actually make? And how much difference did it make in 1997? Was it really the Sun wot won? Or is this just a new marketing ploy - everyone is talking about the Sun today after all, isn't that more of a prize to them?
And finally, I am not aware that they have been actively supporting Labour in a long time. So it may not be a big change in the end anyway.
Speaking personally, I am more comfortable not having their support than I was having it.
The Sun 'comes out against Labour' when it has been slating Labour for years.
Hardly news this, is it? The bigger story surely is that the Sun still thinks it has the power to pick the winner of a General Election.
I'm sure any Labour member would not be too concerned that this racist, pitiful toilet rag no longer supports them.
Yes, David, that rag is "still extremely unpopular in Merseyside", something to do with what happened when my brother & I, along with thousands of others, entered the Leppings Lane terrace on April 15th, 1989. Murdoch's support for New Labour says far more about the party than the proprietor; now the rejected rump of what was once a mass party react like a jilted girlfriend & Tony Woodley, his exchange with Paxman last night truly cringeworthy, ostentatiously rips up a copy of the paper (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/30/the-tony-ripped-up-labour ). Pathetic.
It's also ascribing a level of importance to Murdoch's endorsements which no longer applies; it's commonly accepted that the next election will see the role & influence of the web (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) increase at the expense of what we bloggers like to call the dead tree press.
The declaration of the Sun for Labour in 1997 was a seminal event mainly because just about for ever it had been a right wing, Tory leaning paper so this was a significant news item in its own right. Blair and co worked very hard to get the endorsement as for them this signalled something significant about a change, or perceived change, in the Labour party.
I do not believe however that the Sun per se changed many people's minds then in terms of how they would vote. Research at the time showed that before the announcement a significant number of readers were either Labour supporters or didn't have a clue about the party affiliation of the newspaper. To be honest if you are looking for political comment I am not sure this is the newspaper you choose!
Since then I suspect the power of any individual media outlet to affect votes has lessened. There have been major changes in the media environment since then and people no longer get their information from just one or two sources.
Of course it could be that the whole of Murdochs empire swings behind the Tories. That may be significant but remember that in terms of broadcast coverage there are strict rules during elections and more and more of us get our information about, and impressions of, politics from broadcast media or other sources.
I think the importance of this move has been over-emphasised. I'm not sure that print media has had much influence on voting behaviour since 92, and I could never make my mind up as a politics student 15 years ago whether it did then.
As for Brown, I think this is overstated too. Opinion has swung against the incumbent government, but there's no hint that the country has swung behind the Tories, like it did behind Labour in 97.
Labour still has a significant majority, which will take some overturning if Cameron is to claim a strong mandate.
A convincing Tory victory is still by far the most likely outcome, but if Labour hit on a strong line of attack you never know.
Eight months to go. A long time, and don't forget events, dear boy...