Sunak, Starmer & the malign influence of Murdoch
An extract from a new book on goings on at the top of the Tory Party by Telegraph political editor Ben Riley-Smith suggests that Rishi Sunak tried to resign over Covid Party fines in April 2022 but was dissuaded from doing so by Rupert Murdoch.
There is an extract on the Torygraph website which suffice to say makes for dry reading.
The wider question of the supposed influence of Murdoch is a little more interesting.
Before 1997 New Labour certainly courted The S*n.
As the TUC this week underlined again after Hillsborough and Wapping the paper is or should be blanked by anyone with even a smidgeon of political and moral decency.
The S*n’s circulation has declined very significantly over the last 25 years but Murdoch still owns the Times, Times Radio, TalkSport etc.
Whether or not he directly contacted Sunak is disputed but his views seems to have been made known at the least.
One doesn’t need to read the Editorials in the Times and Sunday Times for long to detect a distinct Editorial position on who should occupy No.10. Sunak is regarded as OK and worth giving a chance to. Starmer is seen as a contender but there is still not 100% certainty that in Office he might not do something that is very slightly left of centre.
Of course Starmer, Reeves and lots of other politicians were seen at Murdoch’s summer party in London earlier in the year.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist and if Murdoch has any political influence of note I suspect its more with Labour than the Tories.
However even the point that he attempts to have influence and this is taken to an extent seriously reflects again the significant democratic deficit in British politics
Leave a Reply