The Changing of the Guard

As the general election approaches, Britain's political and media establishment appears to believe it has little to fear from a Labour Government

Left: The Sun’s pro-Starmer splash. Right: How a Sun endorsement might look

At some point in the coming months, the British press will hit a tipping point.

It may not arrive until the final weeks, or even days, of the general election campaign. But it’s coming.

After years of telling their readers to shun the Labour party, some of the newspapers previously most hostile to the opposition, will almost certainly switch to backing them instead.

Preparations for this transition are already well underway. On Friday The Sun splashed with a beaming picture of Keir Starmer, who they said had joined their “revolt over [the] 3 Lions Shirt”.

The splash marked a notable shift in the paper’s coverage of the Labour leader, who they have previously caricatured as a woke, terrorist-enabling “Sir Softie”.

Sources close to Starmer have long dismissed the possibility of an explicit Sun endorsement, while sources at News UK have also been divided over the prospect.

However, with polls continuing to suggest Starmer is heading for a landslide victory, there appears to have been a definite shift among those outlets previously most hostile to the party.

Yet the ease with which the party’s former opponents are preparing to switch their allegiance poses big questions about what change we can still really expect from a Labour Government.

After all, if Labour’s former enemies are now so relaxed about the prospect of Starmer entering Downing Street, then we have to ask ourselves exactly why that might be.