Word quickly spread at Westminster that Sir Keir Starmer was apparently on the move after being invited to sit on his sofa with Rupert Murdoch at the Mogul’s Midsummer party (ES Composite).
The scuffle is going well.
General elections are round the corner and both the main parties are trying desperately to impress the media owners and editors.
Word quickly spread in Westminster that Sir Keir Starmer was clearly on the move after being invited to sit on the sofa with Rupert Murdoch at the Mogul’s Midsummer party. seriously.
To be fair, other senior political figures also did magic with the 92-year-old veteran at the Spencer house party, but it was the starmer, wearing an eyebrow-raising open-necked black shirt number, that started to get people’s tongues talking. done.
Whether the Labor leader will do enough to convince the News Corporation tycoon that he and his party are worthy of being endorsed by the group’s newspapers and channels remains to be seen.
Some Tory insiders have predicted that Rishi Sunak could choose to move to the country as early as April, ahead of local elections in May, with the next few months being marked by intense wrangling.
First there are party conferences, attended by editors and senior officials, and dinners, receptions and private meetings are now being recorded in diaries.
Given Labour’s lead in the polls, talk among its ranks and the airs of resignation in the face of many Tories that we are heading for a repeat of 1997, the assumption is that Starmer will have media support across the board, even that some traditional Tory-supporting titles would support him.
In 1997, at last, the moment that seemed to signal Tony Blair’s move to Downing Street came when the front cover of The Sun announced: “The Sun Backs Blair.”
This is in stark contrast to 1992, when the newspaper mocked the then Labor leader, Neil Kinnock, on its cover, which was modeled on a light bulb and the headline: ‘If Kinnock wins today please be the last person to leave Britain’ turn out the lights.”
John Major’s subsequent victory enabled Murdoch’s newspaper to say: “It was the Sun that won it.”
Who will be the starmer – Kinnock or Blair?
Given the warmth of the greeting he received, not only from Murdoch but from the rest of News Corp, with a bowl of beef and potato dauphinoise, Starmer would receive the Blairstyle anointing.
There are also those who are not so convinced.
The teams of Starmer and Murdoch are not new to each other. When he was Director of Public Prosecutions, he accepted more hospitality from the Murdoch-owned newspapers than from the rest of the British press. On 10 occasions, he was offered wine and food by them.
He went to Murdoch’s summer party and The Times’ Christmas drinks.
However, contact ceased with the coming of the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry.
The decision to prosecute Rebekah Brooks was made under Starmer’s supervision, a move she defended.
Brooks, Murdoch’s former News of the World editor and his most senior executive until his resignation, was acquitted and later returned as head of News Corp.
Starmer also proudly claims to have been the legal observer in the vaping controversy, when Murdoch attacked the print trade unions.
It’s probably a thing of the past, but Starmer still has his work cut out for him if he wants Murdoch’s vote.
Recalling his days in newspaper publishing in Australia, the billionaire likes to back winners, always wanting to be on the winning side.
In theory, this should dent his support, but there are increasingly those who maintain Labor and the Tories are not as far apart as polls suggest, so the gap may be narrowing. Certainly, the Labor landslide is by no means an accident.
In 1995, Major met Murdoch for 30 minutes. It was a troubled period for the then Prime Minister. Murdoch’s newspapers were calling for a replacement of the Conservative leader and they were praising Blair. According to government documents, Major No. 10 was instructed to show “the highest confidence and clear vision” in the encounter.
it did not work.
With a pro-Blair front page, The Sun said the Labor leader was the “breath of fresh air” Britain needed, while the Tories were “tired, divided and rudderless”.
There are doubts about Starmer’s ability to articulate his plan. They have confidence, but do they have a clear vision?
When Blair took over Labor in 1994, the right-wing media jury was firmly out. “Where’s the beef at Bambi’s?” the Daily Mail asked. Lord Rothermere’s newspaper retained that approach, strongly urging its readers to vote Tory, as did the Daily Telegraph, and as both newspaper groups are likely to do so this time – either of No one displays much respect for Starmer, believing that he is hiding a party and a true intention. they hatin.
At that time, Blair gave an interview to The Sun and was asked what kind of leader he would be.
He was ready. “People,” Blair said, “don’t want big numbers. They don’t expect you to write a whole set of detailed policies. They want to know the character, the identity and the mission of the journey.
He urged readers of the Sun to see what Mrs Thatcher did. “What he said was what he believed in and I will do the same.” Sun was pleased, and so was Blair, with his line: “I’ll be like Thatcher. We need character, not policy documents.
Blair calls on “Education, Education, Education”, Volume 4 to undermine the socialist agenda, promote wealth creation, end poverty, strengthen law and order, build a new Britain, Murdoch’s were able to coordinate.
He was modern, fresh, different, full of energy and promise – all these things were attractive. Starmer, who is regularly mentored by Blair, needs to find that same narrative.
Not that Sunak is in better shape by any means. It would be interesting to see Murdoch’s face if he took 30 minutes to impress Sunak.
Then again, Sunak will not be lacking in confidence. What would be the clear vision and whether that awfully experienced man had confidence in his ability to accomplish it is a completely different matter.
That’s the difficulty for Starmer and Sunak. There is not enough to separate them from each other, their policies are hazy, nor is the nation under their control.
Murdoch may be of the view that it is impossible to declare any of them a clear winner, he is not convinced that any have the cojones to, as he says, deserve his recommendation.
He can spew fire and support no one. He would only be reflecting what is being said, and which will be repeated between now and polling day, that they are both as bad or as good as each other.
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