The Press

Abstract

The 1997 election was a landmark in the political history of Britain’s press. It was the first campaign in which Labour secured the support of most national daily newspapers. Six of the ten backed Labour: the Sun, the Daily Star, the Financial Times just about, the Guardian, the Independent and the Mirror, the last three combining their preference for Labour with an appeal for anti-Conservative tactical voting. Conservative support was confined to the Express, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, with The Times advocating a vote for Euro-sceptic candidates of varied hue. At 7.9 million, the combined circulation of Labour newspapers was well ahead of the 4.5 million for the Conservatives (see Table 9.1). By readership rather than circulation, Labour’s triumph was even more striking. The Labour papers had 21.6 million readers, double the 10.6 million figure for the Conservative press. True, Labour’s lead was smaller than that achieved by Margaret Thatcher; in 1983, after all, the Mirror had been Labour’s sole voice on Fleet Street. Yet, given the traditional dominance of the Conservative press, Labour’s triumph in 1997 was remarkable. In whatever way we interpret Labour’s performance in the ‘real’ election, there is no doubt that in press coverage, 1997 was the party’s finest hour.

The authors thank Professor James G. Kelias for contributing the section on Scotland, Dylan Griffiths for the section on Wales and Paul Gliddon for preparing the tables in this chapter.