The Sun, Labour and the General Election

[The Todd]

The Sun has officially put it's support behind the Conservative party for next year's General Election. Rupert Murdoch has never backed the losing candidate in the General Election.

TWELVE years ago, Britain was crying out for change from a divided, exhausted Government. Today we are there again.
In 1997, "New" Labour, shorn of its destructive hard-Left doctrines and with an energetic and charismatic leader, seemed the answer. Tony Blair said things could only get better, and few doubted him. But did they get better? Well, you could point to investment in schools and shorter hospital waiting lists and say yes, some things did - a little.

But the real story of the Labour years is one of under-achievement, rank failure and a vast expansion of wasteful government interference in everyone's lives.



Nobody can doubt the dedication of Gordon Brown - or the love and loyalty of his wife Sarah, who delivered a moving plea on his behalf yesterday.

But nor can they disguise the failures of Labour in Government over the last 12 years, many of them embarrassingly laid bare by the PM's own words yesterday.

Britain feels broken . . . and the Government is out of excuses.

Blair took office with bulging coffers, an invincible majority and weak opposition, and he and Gordon Brown could have worked miracles.

But they FAILED on law and order, their mantra "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" becoming a national joke. Knife murders are soaring. Smirking criminals routinely walk free in the name of political correctness, while decent people live in a virtual police state of snooping cameras and petty officials empowered to spy and to punish.

Labour FAILED on schools. Yes, facilities improved - but four in 10 kids leave those shiny classrooms still unable to read, write or add up properly. We are plummeting down international league tables for maths and literacy, but every year "grade inflation" ensures record GCSE and A-level passes to fuel Government propaganda.

Labour FAILED on health - spending billions on clipboard-ticking target managers instead of on frontline care.

Labour FAILED on immigration, opening our borders without any regard to the consequences. Illegal migrants and bogus asylum seekers poured in.

Labour FAILED the children they claimed to have made their priority. After 12 years of Blair and Brown, Britain is officially the WORST country in the developed world in which to grow up.

Most disgracefully of all, Labour FAILED our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving them to die through chronic under-funding and the shambolic leadership of dismal Defence Secretaries like Bob Ainsworth.

Britain needs a brave and wise Government to restore our self-respect, our natural entrepreneurship and the will of every family to improve its lot through its own efforts, without depending on handouts.

We need a Government that will cut the red tape strangling businesses, that will make affordable tax cuts to stimulate growth, that will reform wasteful public services.


We need a Government with a genuine will to win the war in Afghanistan and the commitment to give our forces whatever they need to do it.

This will not be a Government that merely talks the talk, as Labour has. It will ACT.

We hope, and pray, that the next Government will have the guts and the determination to do these things. And we believe David Cameron should lead it.

So is that it all sorted then? What do you feel about The Sun's shift in allegiance? What can Labour do to bring back public favour before next year's vote?

 

[Loveless]

I'll say what I always say

Fuck The Sun

It's a cheap, ego-driven, piece of shit, tabloid rag for morons. Seriously I can't put it any simpler than that. Anyone who takes their politics or view of the world from it needs to slap themselves in the face and step out into the real world.
I don't do political parties and I don't sit fully on the left or right because things aren't that simple. In truth it wouldn't matter even if I did because the two main parties are so similar it's difficult to differentiate between them.
This news is only relevant for two reasons.

1. The Conservatives have won now. All the ******** Sun readers will follow like sheep, never questioning or remembering the fucking shambles they were last time they were in charge.
2. Personally I'm hoping that The Sun * Spits * won't take an entirely biased position and will actually... you know... look properly at our new overlords. Of course there's not the slightest chance they will because The Suns raison d'etre isn't to educate or tell the truth; it's about making money and giving Rupert Murdoch his annual ego-wank.

Ah fuck it anyway, I'm voting Green...

 

[HBK-aholic]

The Sun hasn't backed a losing side since 1974; that alone is a massive feat. Is it because Sun readers are that sheep-like, or is The Sun just very good a calling these things? I don't think Labour have a hope in hell of winning this election. Brown can promise anything he wants now, knowing full well he won't have a chance to a few days ago was anything to go by. His promises are getting weaker and stupider and I don't think many will vote for him.

I am a fan of The Sun. I know everyone hates it, but it's entertaining as long as you actually realise it's biased and don't take everything at face value. I have no clue who I'll be voting for in the next election (I'll be 18 then yay ) but I know it won't be Labour. Thinking about it, it seems we won't be voting for the best party, rather the least bad.

 

[Lee]

A research paper done by Newcastle University in whether the media influenced the public vote on their voting choice in the UK showed a resounding NO. Then their's the demographic of people who read the sun, this demographic vote the least amount.

Moral of the story is this---it means fuck all.

 

[Uncle Sam]

The Sun likes to think it influences general elections. In a complete u-turn, I'm going to put my faith in the British public and say that they're not massively influenced by any of the rags. Instead, The Sun is just a surprisingly effective barometer of public opinion.

I mean, it's hardly difficult to guess that the Conservatives will be winning the next general election. So, y'know, don't be like "Holy shit! The Sun has magical vote-winning qualities!" when it inevitably happens.

If any people in Britain had a brain or a (metaphorical) pair of balls, they'd vote for the Liberal Democrats. Instead, they'll be following the most oxymoronic slogan of all-time:

"Vote Conservatives for Change."

 

[Gelgarin]

Personally I think the Sun should get the fuck out of national politics and stick to naked women and blaming asylum seekers for things. Reading that article was just embarrassing, and every time I am reminded that this is what the average man on the street actually thinks it makes me want to pack up and move to Sweden.

I could pick the whole thing apart, and explain exactly why allmost every comment made is inaccurate, misleading or hypocritical... but I don't think it's worth bothering, because the Sun doesn't give a fuck about national politics. All they care about is backing the winner (something that was sewn up months ago. You can barely get odds betting on a Conservative victory) so they can keep up this line about deciding elections.
Exactly why they want to remind everybody that they cost Labour the '83 election by promoting war crimes is beyond me... but then I don't market tabloid newspapers.

Anyway, this 'change of heart' by the Sun effects more or less nothing. Short of a Tory scandal (fingers crossed) the Conservatives are going to win the next election whatever happens. The best we can hope for is for Labour to remember somewhere along the way they they're supposed to be liberal and left wing... it'll be too little too late, but it might help keep the Conservatives honest for a little bit.

 

[Tastycles]

Probably the most telling thing about the article is that it says that Labour is shit, and not that the Tories are good. Rewind fifteen years and you see the headline "The Sun Backs Blair", that is emphatically not what we are seeing here. The majority of people who read The Sun will be life voters for one party or another, if they are southerners, Conservatives, if they are northerners, Labour.

This won't change anything, but it does mean that Brown only has two newspapers behind him now, and it is very difficult to build an election platform from the least read tabloid, The Mirror, and the least read broadsheet, The Guardian.

Short of David Cameron becoming a paedo, he's going to be the next prime minister. What worries me, is that people will be voting for him because they don't want a labour government, not because they do want a conservative one. The last time that happened, the conservative leader did the most stereotypical conservative things possible to gain a stronghold, and we ended up with 18 years.

The saddest thing of all is that Brown has "failed" because unemployment is now at its highest level since 1997. The fact that the Conservatives were in power then is lost on people. Cameron's election will be a sad day indeed for this country, because we will have an Old Etonian running the country. To say he is out of touch with the people is an understatement.

The sad fact is, is that New Labour have now basically killed Labour, but they'll be popular enough in inner cities not to need to go backto the drawing board. My only hope is that the Lib Dems can some how garner a few Tory seats, and that the SNP and Plaid Cymru can keep them out of the celtic countries. That way, their majority will be small enough that a few things will be stopped. I think I'd actually be ok to give UKIP 30 seats to make it made a hung parliament, but it isn't going to happen.

In short, any 15 year old girls reading, get out there and get shagging Cameron, because otherwise, we are going to have a man that looks like a bollock for a leader, and scenes like this

all over again.

The Sun's article is full of bullshit of the highest degree, but it wouldn't be the first time...

And it also wouldn't be the first time they used questionable stories to promote the Tories

This won't change the result of the election, but it probably does mean we'll get a Tory government for longer,and we can expect this next year.