SE Academic Review 2023

39 ACADEMIC REVIEW 2023

“ If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain, please turn out the lights ”

Bringing right-wing media onside One of the most significant factors contributing to New Labour’s landslide was the support or lack of opposition from major press. As with much of New Labour’s electoral strategy the courting of traditionally Conservative papers was based on lessons learned during the 1992 campaign. As stated previously the 1992 election was very close, with polls predicting a hung parliament or a small Labour majority. The surprise Conservative win was blamed by many on the Sun’s support of Major and the tabloids’ iconic front page on the election that read “If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain, please turn out the lights”. Many including the Sun itself have argued that “It’s the Sun Wot Won It” for Major (Reeves, McKee, & Stuckler, 2016). Blair, therefore, thought it necessary to court the British press to get favourable coverage of New Labour. Labour already had the support of the Daily Mirror , the Guardian and the Observer and was confident that this support would not evaporate. Blair aided by Campbell and Anji Hunter made it a priority to bring the Sun onto the side of Labour and at least make other Conservative-supporting papers less hostile, in order to sway Conservative voters to Labour. New Labour saw it as their priority to lure over the Rupert Murdoch-owned News International which owned some of the most popular and Conservative papers: the Sun , News of the World , the Times , and the Sunday Times . With most effort going to courting the Sun , the most circulated newspaper at the time. This was made easier by the papers’ opposition to John Major, with papers criticising his ‘weak leadership’, non-Eurosceptic positions, tax rises and scandals relating to sleaze and sex. Blair convinced Murdoch to force the Sun to endorse

New Labour, against the wishes of the Sun ’s senior staff, at a conference for News International staff on Hayman Island, a resort off the coast of Queensland (Mandelson, 2010, p. 193). The Sun ’s endorsement for Labour came one day after Major announced the election and News of the World followed with their endorsement mid campaign (Seldon, 2005, p. 253). Murdoch did not have as much influence over his broadsheet papers and did not force them to endorse Blair, however, the Sunday Times expressed some support for Blair and the Times did not endorse any party instead urging its readers to vote for the most Eurosceptic candidate in their constituency (Butler & Kavanagh, 1997, p. 156). The other great Conservative tabloid, the Daily Mail , did not switch to supporting Labour despite Blair’s personal courtship of the editors and Campbell’s aid in supplying stories. They also attempted to dampen the hostility to Labour of Conrad Black’s deeply Conservative Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph , knowing they would never endorse, but with some success. The outcome of these courtships had been very successful, Blair received overwhelmingly positive coverage of himself, his party and his policies especially compared to previous Labour leaders. Whilst having the support of the press is not a prerequisite for electoral victory, it is undeniable that favourable press coverage can greatly aid in the winning of an election. Positive stories about New Labour reassured the public that a Labour government could change whilst the continued stream of negative stories about Major and the Conservatives in papers that had converted to New Labour, and those that did not, may have convinced many Conservative voters to vote for Labour or at least not vote Conservative.