The Tory press hopes to shove the Labour party to the Right
Not content with telling people how to vote in the election, the Tory press is now looking to ensure the Labour party chooses a candidate it likes.
Thus we’ve seen positive coverage of so-called Blairite contenders such as Liz Kendall and Chuka Umunna (who has dropped out of the race and endorsed Kendall) and hostile coverage of the supposedly ‘Left’ contenders such as Andy Burnham.
The Times and the Telegraph ran cheerful profiles about the ‘refreshing’ Ms Kendall. Even the Sun gave the ‘bold’ MP for Leicester the sort of warm coverage usually reserved for the Conservatives, as she ‘trashed most of Ed Miliband’s policies’ and backed free schools and more defence spending.
Meanwhile, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, who has secured the backing of more Labour MPs, is bloodied in the familiar style of the general election coverage.
Today’s Sun is an exaggerated form of the general trope:
“Andy Burnham today makes a desperate bid to prove he is not a union puppet.”
That’s not from an editorial column. It’s the first line of a news story.
Despite the facts being much the same – criticism of Ed Miliband and Labour’s past, pro-business talk – the contrast with the Kendall coverage is striking. The paper pulls Burnham apart for ‘aiming to woo business’ after ‘speculation Mr Burnham is Unite union chief Len McCluskey‘s choice as leader’.
The Sun says column lays it out:
“The hasty U-turn by top Labour MPs since their election disaster is jaw-dropping.
Who knows now what Andy Burnham actually stands for? One minute he’s Ed Miliband’s class-war henchman. The next he claims ‘the entrepreneur will be as much our hero as the nurse’ and admits Labour DID spend too much.
Pull the other one. And let’s see him say it to Red Len McCluskey’s face.”
(The U-turn point is interesting. If MPs had stuck to their previous positions, the same papers would be saying they are ignoring the verdict of the electorate, and had learned nothing from past mistakes.)
The piece goes on to praise Caroline Flint, who is running for deputy leader:
“Caroline Flint was another Miliband front-bencher. But there’s a difference between her and Burnham when she says she wants to appeal to Sun readers. She sounds genuine.”
What has Caroline Flint done to please the Sun? Under the Burnham news story, a piece on Ms Flint begins:
“Labour needs to start attacking benefits scroungers as much as bankers if it wants to regain power, says shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint.
The party’s deputy-leader hopeful said it must speak to Sun readers and aspirational voters once more.
She added the party should be comfortable giving a ‘kick up the backside’ to those choosing to live on benefits.”
Note the contrast here. Flint is praised for sounding ‘genuinely’ more conservative than Burnham.
Meanwhile, I’ve not seen any coverage of another ‘deputy leader hopeful’: the high profile Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy, who received an increased majority on a joint Labour and Co-operative Party ticket in the general election.
Ms Creasy is thought to be on the Left of the party, and is probably best known for taking on payday loan scammers Wonga.
She ‘sounds genuine’ too, though I won’t hold my breath about Sun coverage.
Because what we see is the right-wing press hoping to move the Labour party to the right, and influence the terms not just of the leadership election debate but of future general elections.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
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62 Responses to “Never mind the unions. What about the Sun’s influence on the Labour leadership contest?”
Mike B
One simple rule: If a media outlet opposed Labour in the general election Labour members should take no influence from it at all.
Patrick Nelson
“The U-turn point is interesting. If MPs had stuck to their previous
positions, the same papers would be saying they are ignoring the verdict
of the electorate, and had learned nothing from past mistakes.” – this is a profound point.
AlanGiles
With all due respect, if the only way to make Labour electable is to become the Conservative party manque, as Blair made it, what’s the point?. the Brown/Purnell “welfare reforms” by Freud just made Duncan-Smith’s work easier, however much labour try to obfuscate their position now.
Mandelson wanted Umunna and Hunt to stand (I wonder what happened to Umunna’s “girlfriend” by the way – sitings have become rarer than the Loch Ness Monster) now, both Hunt & Umunna want Kendall because they know – as do we all – with her constant wittering about undisclosed “change” she will be Blair in bloomers. 1997 “solutions” will not be relevant in 2020.
Labouring Life
I certainly have no time for those that wish to go back be it 1997 or 1977. But the party needs reform and it needs ideas. The reforms need to look closely at the cosey world of committee room meetings why we find it hard to be inclusive whether open primaries would be better for candidate selection, how we can more fully engage Union Memeberhsip to name but a few.
What I am ever struck by is how we deal with our past. I remember seeing a fantastic speech by barbera castle in the 1960s addressed to unions telling them to reform while they could choose how that reform went and they did nothing and then they got Thatcherite reforms. We are too reactive not proactive enough, always bemoaning what others are doing but not offering a clear agenda of our own. This agenda need not be left wing and if it was more centrist need not be Tory lite. It just needs to be our own. In amongst all these Oxbridge types is not one social theorist willing to put their theories to the test.
I see myself in the middle have never liked the ideas of Mandelson et Al he’s as creepy as Cameron.
But still I ask what do you do with people like me or others who have risen or improved their lives because of labour policy. how do you create an appeal that continues to meet the needs of the vulnerable and persuades the majority in the middle that they owe a responsibility to their community and society??
JoeDM
Good to see our free press making its point.
If you don’t like the Sun buy the Mirror.
If you don’t like the Telegraph buy the Guardain.
Its good to live in a free democracy !!!!