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The Sun Backs Blair |
France's television magazine Télérama reports that Tony Blair has become a new Sun "playmate" to feature alongside the better-known page three pin-ups. Télérama recalls that the Sun gave its support to the Conservatives five years ago, and considers this turnaround surprising, and even too radical to be honest, suggesting that Rupert Murdoch's decision to back Blair was motivated primarily by his need to be sure of government backing for his future digital broadcasting plans. (Télérama, 2 April 1997, p. 24)
It will be remembered that on the day after the 1992 poll, the Sun announced in a front page banner headline: "It's the Sun wot won it", and this claim has been given some serious consideration by, among others, Martin Harrop and Margaret Scammell in their contribution to David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh's The British General Election of 1992. Harrop and Scammell's chapter, entitled "A Tabloid War"*, addresses the question "was it THE SUN WOT WON IT?" The authors point out that in 1992 22% of the adult population read the Sun, including a large number of Labour and uncommitted voters, and overall a population with only a limited interest in politics, and which was therefore electorally volatile. "If the press mattered at all, the Sun mattered most." But if the press had the effect the Sun's headline suggested, why had there not been a similar sudden shift against Labour in the previous two elections? There had, after all, been the headlines on defence in 1987, and the electorally damaging image of Michael Foot in 1983. Moreover, the late swing in 1992 seems to have affected readers not only of the Conservative press, but also, for example, of the Daily Mirror. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the pro-Conservative swing was an altogether longer-term phenomenon, with a nine percent swing being observed among Sun readers over the second half of 1991 and the months leading up to the general election on April 9 1992. "If it was THE SUN WOT WON IT, it surely needed more than a week in which to do the job", they conclude.
The Sun repeated its performance in the aftermath of this election (1 May 1997), announcing "It's the Sun wot swung it". This page will carry quotes and a picture of the Sun's claims as soon as I receive my copy.
It is of course impossible to come to any definite conclusion as to whether the Sun really did ensure victory for the Conservatives in the 1992 election, or for Labour in 1997. It was probably just one among a large number of contributory factors. One has to ask oneself to what extent the press, and particularly the popular press in Britain, forms opinion, and to what extent it rather follows major trends in public opinion, merely reflecting and perhaps amplifying them.
5 April & 5 May 1997
*HARROP, Martin & Margaret Scammell. "A Tabloid War" in BUTLER, David & Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1992. London: Macmillan, 1992, p. 180-210.
The text of the Télérama article:
"Blair, nouvelle 'play-mate' du 'Sun'
Le journal britannique The Sun a tranché. C'est Tony Blair, candidat travailliste aux élections anglo-saxonnes**, qui figurera, jusqu'au vote du 1er mai, aux côtés de la pin-up de sa page 3. Une surprenante volte-face du quotidien populaire, qui avait affiché son vote conservateur il y a cinq ans. Trop radical pour être honnête, ce changement d'opinion du tabloïd reflète les ambitions de son propriétaire, Rupert Murdoch, dont les projets en matière de télévision numérique auront besoin de l'appui du prochain gouvernement. Avec The Sun, Murdoch offre au leader travailliste le soutien d'un journal tiré à plus de quatre millions d'exemplaires. Si le tabloïd court pour Blair, loin s'en faut pour qu'il endosse la politique du Labour. Le quotidien voudrait simplement que le pays soit mené au XXe siècle par le dynamique Tony plutôt que d'y entrer à reculons derrière le démodé John, qui, lui, rêve toujours "d'une bière chaude et d'une partie de cricket".
** A remarkably inept expression, introduced, one must assume, to avoid repeating "britannique".