The Sun backs Labour as much of Fleet Street swings behind Starmer

The Sun has backed Labour to win the UK general election along with the majority of the UK’s national newspapers, the first time the opposition party has gained such wide media support since Sir Tony Blair two decades ago.

With Sir Keir Starmer widely expected to win on Thursday, the Sun told readers to vote for Labour after backing the Conservatives since 2010. The outlet, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, last backed Labour from 1997 to 2005.

The Sun joined the Sunday Times, also owned by News UK, the Independent, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Mirror in their support for a change in government.

The right-leaning Mail, Telegraph and Sunday Express titles stuck to their Tory allegiances with support for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Unusually, the Times, another Murdoch newspaper, chose not to endorse any party on Wednesday night, saying of Labour that it “has yet to earn the trust of the British people”.

Polls have predicted a clear win for Labour, largely disagreeing only on the scale of the Tory loss.

Newspaper editors generally do not want to look like they back losers, according to media executives, a fact especially true of Murdoch and his stable of News UK titles such as the Sun and the Times.

Murdoch has always been “ruthlessly pragmatic”, according to one former editor, flipping between winning sides.

But the Sun’s endorsement was still notable as Starmer was the director of public prosecutions during the phone-hacking scandal against its owner News UK, establishing a historical animosity, according to media executives. 

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK — which owned the News of the World — was acquitted of various offences during the hacking scandal.

The Sun, meanwhile, has never been forgiven by some Labour voters, particularly in Liverpool, for its strident criticism of fans at the Hillsborough football stadium tragedy.

Lachlan Murdoch — who became sole chair of News Corp last year when his father Rupert stepped down — took a personal role in deciding to back Labour, said a person close to him. He was in the Sun’s newsroom on Wednesday with editor Victoria Newton.

One editor said this election was unusually tricky given Tory weakness, Labour taking the centre ground, and Reform UK growing. “There are lots of negatives this time to endorsing one party in the way it will alienate people,” they said.

Some media moguls are unenthusiastic about Labour’s plans to put the BBC licence fee back on a firmer footing, and have lingering concerns about its previous interest in reviving some of the recommendations of the Leveson inquiry.

Others said newspapers that backed the Tories risked falling out with their readership, with many Sun, Times, Mail and Telegraph readers expected to vote Labour or Reform.

“The papers have boxed themselves into a place where they would be out of tune with the rest of the country,” said one. “But by suddenly backing Keir they do look insincere, if pragmatic.”

Geordie Greig, former editor of the Daily Mail and editor-in-chief of the Independent, used a speech last week to argue that his former newspaper took a blinkered approach to covering the Conservative party.

But right-leaning newspaper executives said trying simply to reduce Labour’s expected majority was a valid argument for backing the Conservatives.

The Sun boasted “It Was The Sun Wot Won It” after Sir John Major’s victory in 1992 following a campaign against Labour’s Neil Kinnock, but then swung behind Blair in 1997.

However, a potential shift in this election has been the retreat of Rupert Murdoch as the most influential voice within the News UK group of titles, according to media analyst Claire Enders, having stepped down as chair of the group last year.

“Murdoch was the centrifugal force for 40-plus years. His magnificently enthusiastic endorsements of Brexit and of Boris Johnson were material factors until the implosion of Liz Truss.”

“Murdoch is less politically engaged in British politics,” agreed a newspaper executive who has had close dealings with him.

However, media executives also say newspaper endorsements are no longer as important to politicians as they were.

National newspaper circulation has dropped by three-quarters since 1997, based on estimates from Enders, the media analysts.

Newspaper editorials are seen as less influential as more readers seek their news from social media. “Leaders don’t move the needle [as they did],” admitted one editor.

Johnson was the last party leader to actively court newspapers for their backing, said one, with Starmer and Sunak seen as less close to newspaper proprietors than predecessors.

Allies of Starmer say he does not crave Murdoch’s endorsement to the same extent as Blair, who flew across the world to meet the magnate at a News Corp conference on an Australian island in 1995.

The Labour leader met Rupert Murdoch at the News Corp annual party last summer in London, but it was a relatively short conversation. He has met Lachlan Murdoch and senior Sun executives in “recent months”, said one person familiar with the matter.

Starmer on Wednesday acknowledged the Sun’s support, saying it “shows just how much this is a changed party, back in the service of working people, and that is the change on offer tomorrow in this election”.