Will The Sun newspaper endorse Keir Starmer's Labour Party? - BBC News
The paper has backed the Conservatives since 2010 but in 2024 that may change.
Had the paper’s portrayal of the Labour leader (including the eve-of-poll headline "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain turn out the lights") swung it for the Tories? Did the Sun really have that much influence?

Rupert Murdoch, the Sun's owner, later said that headline had been "tasteless and wrong". He told the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press that, "We don't have that sort of power."

Some muttered that he would say that, wouldn't he, but even in 1992, some polls in the last week of the campaign had already pointed to a swing away from Labour. The Sun had simply spotted which way the wind was blowing, the argument went.

The Sun doesn't make its daily print readership public now but it’s believed to be around 600,000. It says it reaches nearly seven million people every day through a combination of digital and print.

The paper told us: "Sun readers are always at the heart of British elections and so naturally leaders of all parties are always eager to hear their views on the issues that matter to them and their families.”

It also says that the "live grilling" its readers will be able to give both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir before the election is unique to traditional print titles. Its Never Mind The Ballots: Election Showdown will be hosted by Harry Cole and broadcast on the paper’s website, YouTube and social channels.

Given that, perhaps it isn't that surprising that the question of who the Sun newspaper supports in an election is still viewed as totemic and prompts coverage far wider than is perhaps justified.

If the Sun does back Sir Keir, Ms Perrior says that endorsement is not worth what it once was but is "still worth having".

"He’s trying to say 'we are not the Labour Party that you worry about with your taxes or with your healthcare or with your national security’ and therefore an endorsement from the Sun really rubber stamps that, and says to the public or to their readers, that they believe that he can be trusted and he can be given the keys to Number 10.

"But, of course, the Sun also has YouTube channels that are broadcasting lots of videos. So it's not just the Sun in terms of the newspaper. They have different outlets now that they are continually pushing those political messages."

In 1997, when the paper backed Mr Blair, Mr Higgins told the BBC that he and the senior team had initially resisted when Rupert Murdoch dropped his “absolute bombshell”.

"Mr Murdoch said in no uncertain words that he detected a wind of change in the country and that we were going to switch horses."

Mr Higgins says the Sun always wants to be on the side of its readers but also “on the side of winners”.

Mr Campbell agrees. "They backed us because they knew we were going to win. That may be about to happen again and that, more than anything, is what will drive their judgement."

He doesn’t think Sir Keir needs to worry too much about the papers. "The right-wing papers will be worrying that their readers will think they are totally out of touch if they argue the Tories deserve another term. Let them sweat! And meanwhile speak to the country as a whole," he says.