The Sun newspaper has made an abrupt volte-face on the eve of the general election, putting its support behind the Labour party for the first election since 2005. The Times, another News UK title, also offered cautious support for Starmer and his party, albeit seemingly as a result of the newspaper accepting Labour will win anyway. After years of fiercely critical coverage of Labour and personal attacks on the leader it called “Sir Softie”, the Sun took the surprise move of endorsing the party on Wednesday with the simple message: “It is time for a change … Which means that it is time for Labour.” The move was welcomed by the Labour leader who said: “I am delighted to have the support of the Sun. 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.” In an editorial, the Times told readers that “democracy requires change” and tellingly stopped short of urging people to vote Conservative to keep a potential Labour administration in check. The newspaper said Starmer was “clearly a sensible man, flexible and pragmatic, a patriot committed to his country’s defence at a time of increasing geopolitical instability”, and also had praise for the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, for showing a “willingness to reject Labour orthodoxy and seek new solutions to the NHS’s forever crisis”. While saying the paper “wants the next government to succeed”, however, it also said that Starmer’s party “has yet to earn the trust of the British people” and had been “sparing with the truth about what it will do in office”. Speculation about who the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun would support has been rife since Rishi Sunak called the general election on 22 May, with an editorial that day calling the decision to call an early poll an “almighty punt”. But less than 24 hours before polling stations open, the Sun changed the main story on its site to one displaying its newspaper front page, featuring a background picture of a football pitch, a small picture of the England manager, Gareth Southgate, and the headline: “As Britain goes to the polls it’s … time for a new manager (and we don’t mean sack Southgate).” The editorial begins by praising Sunak, but says that while he has “many policies which we support … put bluntly, the Tories are exhausted”. It goes on to argue that the Reform UK party is a “one-man band which at best can win only a handful of MPs”, while the Liberal Democrats are dismissed as “a joke”. This, it adds, “means that it is time for Labour”. It praises Starmer for changing “his party for the better”, saying that he has rooted out antisemitism, been solid in support for Ukraine and Israel and promised to build the “new houses and infrastructure we need”.
There were doubts that the Murdoch-owned paper would endorse a Labour leader who had brought prosecutions against more than 20 journalists after the hacking scandal, including charges against News UK’s now chief executive, Rebekah Brooks. The former Sun editor Kelvin McKenzie had said it would be an “outright outrage”. The leader may obliquely refer to this stating: “Common sense values are what The Sun believes in … Freedom of speech, a free Press and freedom for our journalists to expose hypocrisy and wrongdoing.” But while the Sun’s backing of Starmer may be lukewarm, it is undeniable. It warns that the “ex-remainer” wants “closer ties with Brussels” and says he has a “mountain to climb, with a disillusioned electorate and low approval ratings”. However, it adds: “But, by dragging his party back to the centre ground of British politics for the first time since Tony Blair was in No 10, Sir Keir has won the right to take charge.” The endorsement of the Sun has traditionally been seen as a key moment of electoral significance in election campaigns. In 1995, Tony Blair flew to a News Corp conference on Hayman Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia to meet Murdoch and was duly endorsed by the Sun in the 1997 election. After its monstering of the then Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, in the run-up to the 1992 election – and his subsequent defeat – the tabloid’s front-page headline declared: “It’s the Sun wot won it.” The Sun’s endorsement of Labour, which will appear in its print edition on polling day, has come far later than in previous elections. In 2009 the tabloid switched its support from Labour to the Conservatives seven months before polling day, with the announcement timed to cause maximum damage to the then prime minister, Gordon Brown. In the 2017 election, it backed Theresa May’s Conservatives three weeks before polling day. Labour has put substantial effort into winning over the Sun’s readers, including buying full-page adverts on the outlet’s website for the final week of the campaign – to the annoyance of some of the party’s politicians. Among Britain’s other main newspapers, the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror have backed Labour. The Daily Telegraph and its Sunday edition, the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and the Daily and Sunday Express have pledged their support to the Tories.