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134-629: Star was founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1974 as competition to the tabloid National Enquirer with its headquarters in New York City . In the late 1980s, it moved its offices to Tarrytown, New York , and in 1990, Murdoch sold the magazine to the Enquirer ' s parent company, American Media, Inc. (Murdoch now owns the New York Post .) Originally an unstapled, supermarket tabloid printed on newsprint , Star 's circulation declined. In 1999, AMI

268-673: A libertarian , saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit." In a speech he delivered in New York in 2005, Murdoch claimed that Blair described the BBC coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, which was critical of the Bush administration's response, as full of hatred of America. On 28 June 2006,

402-554: A tabloid , and ran it as a sister paper to the News of the World . The Sun used the same printing presses, and the two papers were managed together at senior executive levels. The tabloid Sun was first published on 17 November 1969, with a front page headlined "HORSE DOPE SENSATION", an ephemeral "exclusive". An editorial on page 2 announced: "Today's Sun is a new newspaper. It has a new shape, new writers, new ideas. But it inherits all that

536-504: A "popular idea", would have to "go and lie down in a dark room for half an hour". Both have pointed to the huge commercial success of the Sun during that period, and its establishment as Britain's top-selling newspaper, claiming that they are "giving the public what they want". That conclusion was disputed by critics. John Pilger said that a late-1970s edition of the Daily Mirror , which replaced

670-460: A British missile. Under the headline "Stick This Up Your Junta: A Sun missile for Galtieri's gauchos", the newspaper published a photograph of a missile (actually a Polaris missile stock shot from the Ministry of Defence ) which had a large Sun logo printed on its side with the caption "Here It Comes, Senors..." underneath. The paper explained that it was "sponsoring" the missile by contributing to

804-591: A Labour Party led by James Callaghan or Roy Jenkins . In the October election, an editorial asserted: "ALL our instincts are left rather than right and we would vote for any able politician who would describe himself as a Social Democrat." In the 1975 referendum on Britain continuing membership of the European Economic Community , it advocated a vote to stay in the Common Market. The editor, Larry Lamb,

938-454: A column by former editor Kelvin MacKenzie the day before the 28th anniversary of the disaster which included a passage about footballer Ross Barkley that was considered "appalling and indefensible" and included a racist epithet and insults against the people of Liverpool. Access to the club grounds and facilities for Sun reporters were blocked. The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson described

1072-663: A convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulator Ofcom . In August 2008, Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the Rosehearty . Cameron declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud ; Cameron did not reveal his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet

1206-449: A copy of The Sun in the House of Commons and suggested the paper could be prosecuted for indecency. Sexually related features such as "Do Men Still Want To Marry A Virgin?" and "The Way into a Woman's Bed" began to appear. Serialisations of erotic books were frequent; the publication of extracts from The Sensuous Woman , at a time when copies of the book were being seized by Customs, produced

1340-454: A different position from local editors on such matters as climate change and stimulus packages to combat the financial crisis. Murdoch is a supporter of the formation of an Australian republic , having campaigned for such a change during the 1999 referendum . In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist News of the World , followed in 1969 with

1474-451: A follow-up, headlined "Now they're after our fish!". Following a Press Complaints Commission adjudication a "clarification" was eventually printed, on page 41. In 2005, The Sun published photographs of Prince Harry sporting a Nazi costume to a fancy dress party. The photographs caused outrage across the world and Clarence House was forced to issue a statement in response apologising for any offence or embarrassment caused. Despite being

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1608-417: A homeless man named Christopher Dickinson, who had passed himself off as Criss for years. The real Peter Criss was mourning his mother at the time and has stated that he was distressed to learn that his friends and associates believed the other story. In 2011, actress Katie Holmes sued Star magazine for libel after the tabloid published a story about her that suggested she abused drugs. The original lawsuit

1742-521: A large parliamentary majority, despite the paper having attacked Blair and New Labour up to a month earlier. Its front-page headline read THE SUN BACKS BLAIR and its front-page editorial made clear that while it still opposed some New Labour policies, such as the minimum wage and devolution, it believed Blair to be "the breath of fresh air this great country needs". It said that John Major's Conservatives were "tired, divided and rudderless". Blair, who had radically altered his party's image and policies, noting

1876-530: A page 2 news story titled "STRAIGHT SEX CANNOT GIVE YOU AIDS – OFFICIAL." The Sun favourably cited the opinions of Lord Kilbracken , a member of the All Parliamentary Group on AIDS , who had said that only one person out of the 2,372 individuals with HIV/AIDS mentioned in a specific Department of Health report was not a member of a "high risk group", such as homosexuals and recreational drug users. The Sun also ran an editorial arguing that "At last

2010-477: A panellist on BBC1's Question Time , that the apology he made about the coverage was a hollow one, forced upon him by Rupert Murdoch. MacKenzie further claimed he was not sorry "for telling the truth" but he admitted that he did not know whether some Liverpool fans urinated on the police, or robbed victims. On 12 September 2012, following the publication of the official report into the disaster using previously withheld Government papers which officially exonerated

2144-423: A persistent critic of some of the government's policies, the paper supported Labour in both subsequent elections the party won. For the 2005 general election , The Sun backed Blair and Labour for a third consecutive election win and vowed to give him "one last chance" to fulfil his promises, despite berating him for several weaknesses including a failure to control immigration. However, it did speak of its hope that

2278-537: A person's sexuality unless it could be defended on the grounds of "overwhelming public interest". In 2003, the paper was accused of racism by the government over its criticisms of what it perceived as the "open door" policy on immigration. The attacks came from the Prime Minister's press spokesman Alastair Campbell and the Home Secretary David Blunkett (later a Sun columnist). The paper rebutted

2412-557: A photograph of Scargill with his arm in the air, a pose which made him look as though he was giving a Nazi salute . The print workers at The Sun refused to print it. The Sun strongly supported the April 1986 bombing of Libya by the US, which was launched from British bases. Several civilians were killed during the bombing. Their leader was "Right Ron, Right Maggie". That year, Labour MP Clare Short attempted in vain to persuade Parliament to outlaw

2546-561: A positive view of the rival's "Mirrorscope" supplement. Dropping a sample copy into a bin, Murdoch replied: "If you think we're going to have any of that upmarket shit in our paper, you're very much mistaken." Lamb hastily recruited a staff of about 125 reporters, who were mostly selected for availability rather than their ability. This was about a quarter of what the Mirror then employed, and Murdoch had to draft in staff on loan from his Australian papers. Murdoch immediately relaunched The Sun as

2680-472: A radio station in a remote mining town, and chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times publishing company. Murdoch had three sisters: Helen (1929–2004), Anne (born 1935) and Janet (born 1939). His Scottish-born paternal grandfather, Patrick John Murdoch , was a Presbyterian minister . Murdoch attended Geelong Grammar School , where he was co-editor of the school's official journal The Corian and editor of

2814-597: A reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium   ... these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters   ... I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong". A member of the Hillsborough Families Support Group responded "too little, too late". Widespread boycotts of

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2948-537: A scandal and a significant amount of free publicity. Politically, The Sun in the early Murdoch years remained nominally Labour-supporting. It advocated a vote for the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson in the 1970 UK general election , with the headline "Why It Must Be Labour"; by February 1974, it was calling for a vote for the Conservative Party led by Edward Heath while suggesting that it might support

3082-549: A total of 17 libel suits. They began with an invented account of the singer having sexual relationships with rent boys . The singer-songwriter was abroad on the day indicated in the story, as former Sun journalist John Blake , recently poached by the Daily Mirror , soon discovered. After further stories, in September 1987, The Sun accused John of having his Rottweiler guard dogs' voice boxes surgically removed . In November,

3216-588: A wholly owned subsidiary of Lachlan Murdoch 's News Corp . It was founded as a broadsheet in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald , and became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owner. The Sun had the largest daily newspaper circulation in the United Kingdom , but was overtaken by freesheet rival Metro in March 2018. The paper became a seven-day operation when The Sun on Sunday

3350-503: Is an Australian-born American business magnate , investor, oligarch, and media proprietor. Through his company News Corp , he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK ( The Sun and The Times ), in Australia ( The Daily Telegraph , Herald Sun , and The Australian ), in the US ( The Wall Street Journal and

3484-477: Is best from the great traditions of its predecessors. The Sun cares. About the quality of life. About the kind of world we live in. And about people." The first issue had an "exclusive interview" with the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson on page 9. The paper copied the rival Daily Mirror in several ways. It was the same size and its masthead had the title in white on a red rectangle of

3618-536: Is funded was vociferously supported by the newspaper, despite widespread opposition, (some from Conservative MPs), which is seen as having contributed to Thatcher's own downfall. The tax was quickly repealed by her successor John Major , whom The Sun initially supported enthusiastically, believing the former Chancellor of the Exchequer was a radical Thatcherite. On the day of the general election of 9 April 1992, its front-page headline, encapsulating its antipathy towards

3752-571: Is right, we can't carry on like this". The paper showed hostility to the European Union (EU) and approval of public spending cuts, tax cuts, and promotion of right-wing ministers to the cabinet, with leaders such as "More of the Redwood, not Deadwood". The Sun criticised Labour leader John Smith in February 1994, for saying that more British troops should be sent to Bosnia . The Sun 's comment

3886-617: Is to be shown. Jennifer Aniston has stated that "if you cooperate with one of the magazines, their competitors become vengeful and attack clients. There is no upside to working with them… Their tactic is to make up stories that are so damaging". Rupert Murdoch Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Keith Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG ( / ˈ m ɜːr d ɒ k / MUR -dok ; born 11 March 1931)

4020-459: The New York Post ), book publisher HarperCollins , and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation ). He was also the owner of Sky (until 2018), 21st Century Fox ( until 2019 ), and the now-defunct News of the World . With a net worth of US$ 21.7   billion as of 2 March 2022, Murdoch is the 31st richest person in

4154-552: The New York Post : "It's like having the Bosnians, Croats, the Jews and Arabs all together in the same area." Four years later, Pecker appointed former Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller to oversee the paper and, at her demand, he moved it back to New York in the summer of 2003. At the beginning of 2004, Star switched to a more traditional magazine format. However, its page layout remains tabloid-derived, with sections including "Worst of

Star (magazine) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-459: The 1992 general election , which had been expected to end in a hung parliament or a narrow win for Labour, then led by Neil Kinnock . In the general elections of 1997 , 2001 and 2005 , Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair . The Labour Party, from when Blair became leader in 1994, had moved from the centre-left to a more centrist position on many economic issues before 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as

4422-413: The Daily Mirror found their rival's only source for the rent boy story, who admitted it was a totally fictitious concoction created for money. The inaccurate story about his dogs, actually Alsatians , put pressure on The Sun , and John received £1 million in an out-of-court settlement, then the largest damages payment in British history. The Sun ran a front-page apology on 12 December 1988, under

4556-509: The micropayments model for obtaining revenue from online news, although this has been criticised by some. In January 2018, the CMA blocked Murdoch from taking over the remaining 61% of BSkyB he did not already own, over fear of market dominance that could potentialise censorship of the media. His bid for BSkyB was later approved by the CMA as long as he sold Sky News to The Walt Disney Company , which

4690-470: The papers . It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors." Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd , as "more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia" and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 as unnecessary. In 2009, in response to accusations by Rudd that News Limited

4824-553: The 1970s – the so-called " Spanish practices " of the print unions – The Sun was very profitable, enabling Murdoch to expand his operations to the United States from 1973. The paper endorsed the Conservative Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 UK general election at the end of a process which had been under way for some time, although The Sun had not initially been enthusiastic about Thatcher. On 3 May 1979, it ran

4958-467: The 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher . In February 1981, when Murdoch, already owner of The Sun and The News of the World , sought to buy The Times and The Sunday Times , Thatcher's government let his bid pass without referring it to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission , which was usual practice at the time. Although contact between

5092-514: The 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful. Later in 1964, Murdoch launched The Australian , Australia's first national daily newspaper, which was based first in Canberra and later in Sydney. In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloid The Daily Telegraph from Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer , who later regretted selling it to him. In 1984, Murdoch was appointed Companion of

5226-757: The BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were considering backing new Conservative leader David Cameron at the next General Election – still up to four years away. In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much". In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal , which might yet have transatlantic implications, Murdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron. Despite this, there had already been

5360-401: The BBC's defence correspondent Peter Snow , of "treason" for aspects of their coverage. The satirical magazine Private Eye mocked and lampooned what they regarded as the paper's jingoistic coverage, most memorably with the mock- Sun headline "KILL AN ARGIE, WIN A METRO !", to which MacKenzie is said to have jokingly responded, "Why didn't we think of that?" These years included what

5494-410: The British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and, during the 1990s, expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned more than 800 companies in more than 50 countries, with a net worth of more than $ 5 billion. In July 2011, Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the News of the World , owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking

Star (magazine) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-660: The British tabloid concept more profoundly than [Larry] Lamb did". Under MacKenzie, the paper became "more outrageous, opinionated and irreverent than anything ever produced in Britain". The Sun became an ardent supporter of the Falklands War . The coverage "captured the zeitgeist" according to Roy Greenslade , assistant editor at the time (though privately an opponent of the war) but was also "xenophobic, bloody-minded, ruthless, often reckless, black-humoured and ultimately triumphalist". On 1 May, The Sun claimed to have " sponsored "

5762-521: The Conservatives (led by Michael Howard ) would one day be fit for a return to government. This election (Blair had declared it would be his last as prime minister) resulted in Labour's third successive win but with a much reduced majority. When Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) became editor in 2003, it was thought Page 3 might be dropped. Wade had tried to persuade David Yelland , her immediate predecessors in

5896-417: The Labour leader Neil Kinnock , read: "If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights". Two days later, The Sun was so convinced its front page had swung a close election for the Conservatives it declared: " It's The Sun Wot Won It ". The Sun led with a headline "Now we've all been screwed by the cabinet" with a reference to Black Wednesday on 17 September 1992, and

6030-476: The Liverpool fans present, MacKenzie issued the following statement: Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline. I too was totally misled. Twenty three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield [White's] in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP [Sheffield Hallam MP Irvine Patnick ] were making serious allegations against fans in

6164-589: The Order of Australia (AC) for services to publishing. After the Keating government relaxed media ownership laws, in 1986 Murdoch launched a takeover bid for The Herald and Weekly Times , which was the largest newspaper publisher in Australia. There was a three-way takeover battle between Murdoch, Fairfax and Robert Holmes à Court , with Murdoch succeeding after agreeing to some divestments. In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring

6298-860: The People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-lived National Star newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there. Asked about the 2007 Australian federal election at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said: "I am not commenting on anything to do with Australian politics . I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime Minister John Howard should continue as prime minister, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in

6432-633: The Republic of Ireland ( The Irish Sun ) are published in Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin, respectively. There is currently no separate Welsh edition of The Sun ; readers in Wales receive the same edition as the readers in England. The Sun was first published as a broadsheet on 15 September 1964, with a logo featuring a glowing orange disc. It was launched by owners IPC (International Publishing Corporation) to replace

6566-501: The UK, US, and Australia. As of September 2024 , the Murdoch family is involved in a court case in the US in which his three children Elisabeth , Prudence , and James are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan , retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than the trust benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in its "irrevocable" terms. Keith Rupert Murdoch

6700-539: The UK. Murdoch has a seat on the Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil and Gas , having jointly invested with Lord Rothschild in a 5.5% stake in the company which conducted shale gas and oil exploration in Colorado , Mongolia , Israel , and the occupied Golan Heights . In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of

6834-516: The United States and the 71st richest in the world according to Forbes magazine. After his father Keith Murdoch died in 1952, Murdoch took over the running of The News , a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of

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6968-522: The United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out in Wapping , one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse. The bitter Wapping dispute started with

7102-515: The Week" and "Stars Without Makeup", which compare photos of stars with and without makeup. As of 2015, Star sells for US$ 4.99 per issue, with reduced rate subscriptions varying from 26 to 52 issues. Star received attention in 1991 for writing a story about KISS drummer Peter Criss , claiming that he had become homeless, was a habitual drunkard, and was living on the streets of Santa Monica , California. Star had instead interviewed and photographed

7236-522: The World , and moved operations to the new Wapping complex in East London, substituting the electricians' union for the print unions as his production staff's representatives, and greatly reducing the number of staff employed to print the papers. A year-long picket by sacked workers was eventually defeated (see Wapping dispute ). During that period, The Sun gained a reputation for running sensationalist stories of questionable veracity. On 13 March 1986,

7370-761: The World , followed closely by The Sun . In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the US market; however, he retained interests in Australia and the UK. In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times , his first British broadsheet , and, in 1985, became a naturalized US citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for US television network ownership. In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his UK printing operations in London, causing bitter industrial disputes. His holding company News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989), and The Wall Street Journal (2007). Murdoch formed

7504-569: The accident, editor Kelvin MacKenzie published an editorial which accused people of "scapegoating" the police, saying that the disaster occurred "because thousands of fans, many without tickets tried to get into the ground just before kick-off – either by forcing their way in or by blackmailing the police into opening the gates". The next day, under a front-page headline "The Truth", the paper falsely accused Liverpool fans of theft and of urinating on and attacking police officers and emergency services. Conservative Member of Parliament Irvine Patnick

7638-515: The article as "disgrace" and a "slur" on the city. MacKenzie was suspended as a contributor to the paper on the day of publication. The Sun remained loyal to Thatcher until her resignation in November 1990, despite the party's fall in popularity over the previous year following the introduction of the poll tax (officially known as the Community Charge). This change to the way local government

7772-403: The banner headline "SORRY, ELTON". Television personality Piers Morgan , a former editor of the Daily Mirror and of The Sun ' s "Bizarre" pop column, has said that during the late 1980s, at Kelvin MacKenzie 's behest, he was ordered to speculate on the sexuality of male pop stars for a feature headlined "The Poofs of Pop". He also recalls MacKenzie headlining a January 1989 story about

7906-426: The claim, believing that it was not racist to suggest that a "tide" of unchecked illegal immigrants was increasing the risk of terrorist attacks and infectious diseases. It did not help its argument by publishing a front-page story on 4 July 2003, under the headline "Swan Bake", which claimed that asylum seekers were slaughtering and eating swans. It later proved to have no basis in fact. Subsequently, The Sun published

8040-616: The controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski 's Mushroom Records ; he merged that with Festival Records , and the result was Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years. Murdoch found a political ally in Sir John McEwen , leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as the National Party of Australia ), who

8174-426: The daily figure was 4,305,957. The highest ever one-day sale was on 18 November 1995 (4,889,118), although the cover price had been cut to 10p. The highest ever one-day sale at full price was on 30 March 1996 (4,783,359). On 22 January 1997, The Sun accused the shadow chancellor Gordon Brown of stealing the Conservatives' ideas by declaring, "If all he is offering is Conservative financial restraint, why not vote for

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8308-503: The day of "The Truth" reported claims about fans as accusations by the police, rather than fact. In April 1992, on the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, The Sun printed an exclusive interview with Liverpool manager Graeme Souness as he celebrated Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final win over Portsmouth while recovering in hospital from heart surgery. Souness came under fire from Liverpool fans for conducting an interview with

8442-519: The day of the Chesterfield by-election in which Benn was standing, was discredited when the psychiatrist quoted by The Sun publicly denounced the article, describing the false quotes attributed to him as "absurd". The Sun had apparently fabricated the entire piece. The newspaper made frequent scathing attacks on what the paper called the " loony left " element within the Labour Party , and on institutions supposedly controlled by it. Ken Livingstone ,

8576-445: The disaster, in 1989 prices. Sales also declined to a lesser degree in neighbouring parts of Cheshire and Lancashire . It was revealed in a documentary called Alexei Sayle's Liverpool , aired in September 2008, that many Liverpudlians will not even take the newspaper for free, or will burn or tear it up. The paper is referred to by Liverpudlians as The Scum , with campaigners believing it limited their fight for justice. The Sun

8710-510: The disease. The Sun ' s article and editorial were reported to the Press Council and an adjudication ruled that they were "misleading in its interpretation... and the headline... was a gross distortion of the statistical information supplied by the Minister." The Sun later published an apology, which was run on Page 28. David Randall argued in the textbook The Universal Journalist that

8844-520: The dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging the British trade union movement . In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million. In 1998, Murdoch made an attempt to buy

8978-417: The eventual victory party on HMS  Invincible when the war ended. In copy written by Wendy Henry , the paper said that the missile would shortly be used against Argentinian forces. Tony Snow, The Sun journalist on Invincible who had "signed" the missile, reported a few days later that it had hit an Argentinian target. One of the paper's best known front pages, published on 4 May 1982, commemorated

9112-464: The exposure a few months earlier of an extra-marital affair in which Cabinet Minister David Mellor was involved. On 14 October 1992, The Sun attacked Michael Heseltine for the mass coal mine closures . Despite its initial opposition to the closures, until 1997, the newspaper repeatedly called for the implementation of further Thatcherite policies, such as Royal Mail privatisation, and social security cutbacks, with leaders such as " Peter Lilley

9246-409: The failing Daily Herald on the advice of market researcher Mark Abrams . The paper was intended to add a readership of "social radicals" to the Herald 's "political radicals". Of Abrams' work, Bernard Shrimsley wrote that 40 years later there supposedly was "an immense, sophisticated and superior middle class, hitherto undetected and yearning for its own newspaper. ... As delusions go, this

9380-525: The first same-sex kiss on the BBC television soap opera EastEnders as "EastBenders", describing the kiss between Colin Russell and Guido Smith as "a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs ... when millions of children were watching". In 1990, the Press Council adjudicated against The Sun and columnist Garry Bushell for their use of derogatory terminology about gay people. The Sun responded to

9514-408: The first-ever outright majority in the proportionally elected Scottish Parliament. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch". In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and

9648-517: The football club Manchester United F.C. , with an offer of £625 million, but this failed. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Commission , which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football". Murdoch's British-based satellite network, Sky Television , incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky

9782-490: The headline "The Lies" rather than "The Truth". I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong. Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, rejected Mr MacKenzie's apology as "too little, too late", calling him " lowlife , clever lowlife, but lowlife". Following the publication of the report The Sun apologised on its front page, under the headline "The Real Truth". With

9916-414: The health crisis on 8 May 1983 with the headline: "US Gay Blood Plague Kills Three in Britain". In May 1987, the publication offered gay men free one-way airline tickets to Norway to leave Britain for good: "Fly Away Gays – And We Will Pay" was the paper's headline. Gay Church of England clergymen were described in one headline in November 1987 as "Pulpit poofs". On 17 November 1989, The Sun headlined

10050-474: The incident was a fabrication: "I have never eaten or even nibbled a live hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, mouse, shrew, vole or any other small mammal." Fuelled by MacKenzie's preoccupation with the subject, stories in The Sun spread rumours about the sexual orientation of famous people, especially pop stars. The Sun ran a series of false stories about Elton John from 25 February 1987, which eventually resulted in

10184-475: The influence the paper could have over its readers' political thinking, had courted it and Murdoch for some time by granting exclusive interviews and writing columns. In exchange for Rupert Murdoch's support, Blair agreed not to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism , which John Major had withdrawn the country from in September 1992 after barely two years. Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson

10318-415: The instruction of Rupert Murdoch , believing: "all I did wrong was tell the truth ... I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now". On Question Time the next year, MacKenzie publicly repeated the claims he said at the dinner; he said that he believed some of the material they published in The Sun but was not sure about all of it. He said in 2012, "Twenty-three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from

10452-444: The job, to scrap the feature, but a model who shared her first name was used on her first day in the post. On 22 September 2003, the newspaper appeared to misjudge the public mood surrounding mental health, as well as its affection for former world heavyweight champion boxer Frank Bruno , who had been admitted to hospital, when the headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up" appeared on the front page of early editions. The adverse reaction, once

10586-413: The leader of the left-wing Greater London Council , was described as "the most odious man in Britain" in October 1981. During the miners' strike of 1984–85 , The Sun supported the police and Margaret Thatcher 's government against the striking NUM miners, and in particular the union's president, Arthur Scargill . On 23 May 1984, The Sun prepared a front page with the headline "Mine Führer " and

10720-742: The life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and established the Murdoch Children's Research Institute ; at the age of 102 (in 2011), she had 74 descendants. While his father was alive, he worked part-time at the Melbourne Herald and was groomed by his father to take over the family business. After his father's death, Rupert began working as a sub-editor with the Daily Express for two years. Following his father's death, when he

10854-487: The negative impact of its launch at which it still resembled the Herald . The pre-Murdoch Sun was "a worthy, boring, leftish, popular broadsheet" in the opinion of Patrick Brogan in 1982. Robert Maxwell , a book publisher and Member of Parliament eager to buy a British newspaper, offered to take it off their hands and retain its commitment to the Labour Party, but admitted there would be redundancies, especially among

10988-656: The newspaper published one of its best known headlines: "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER". The story alleged that comedian Freddie Starr , while staying at the home of a writer and friend of his named Vince McCaffrey and his partner Lea LaSalle in Birchwood, Cheshire , had, after returning from a performance at a nightclub in the early hours, found little to eat in their house. LaSalle was reported as saying that Starr put her pet hamster "between two slices of bread and started eating it". According to Max Clifford : Read All About It , written by Clifford and Angela Levin, La Salle invented

11122-425: The newspaper throughout Merseyside followed immediately and continue to this day. Boycotts include both customers refusing to purchase it, and retailers refusing to stock it. The Financial Times reported in 2019 that Merseyside sales were estimated to drop from 55,000 per day to 12,000 per day, an 80% decrease. Chris Horrie estimated in 2014 that the tabloid's owners had lost £15   million per month since

11256-461: The newspaper's editor at the time, Dominic Mohan, adding underneath: It's a version of events that 23 years ago The Sun went along with and for that we're deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry. We've co-operated fully with The Hillsborough Independent Panel and will publish reports of their findings in tomorrow's newspaper. We will also reflect our deep sense of shame. The newspaper was banned by Everton F.C. in April 2017 after The Sun published

11390-533: The newspaper, who made continued calls for him to be sacked. Liverpool's victory in the FA Cup final a month later did little to lessen the anger towards Souness, who was already under fire for Liverpool's inconsistent league form, although he did not resign from his position until January 1994. On 7 July 2004, in response to verbal attacks in Liverpool on Wayne Rooney , just before his transfer from Everton to Manchester United , who had sold his life story to The Sun ,

11524-485: The newspaper. He assured IPC that he would publish a "straightforward, honest newspaper" which would continue to support Labour. IPC, under pressure from the unions, rejected Maxwell's offer, and Murdoch bought the paper for £800,000, to be paid in instalments. He would later remark: "I am constantly amazed at the ease with which I entered British newspapers." The Daily Herald had been printed in Manchester since 1930, as

11658-420: The paper devoted a full-page editorial to an apology for the "awful error" of its Hillsborough coverage and argued that Rooney (who was only three years old at the time of Hillsborough) should not be punished for its "past sins". In January 2005, The Sun 's managing editor Graham Dudman admitting the Hillsborough coverage was "the worst mistake in our history", added: "What we did was a terrible mistake. It

11792-640: The papers around. Harold Evans , editor of the Sunday Times from 1967, was switched to the daily Times , though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . At the end of the Thatcher / Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair . The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies

11926-621: The phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US. On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International . In September 2023, Murdoch announced he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp. Many of Murdoch's papers and television channels have been accused of biased and misleading coverage to support his business interests and political allies, and some have linked his influence with major political developments in

12060-427: The pictures on Page Three, and gained the opprobrium of the newspaper for her stand. During the 1987 UK general election , The Sun ran a mock-editorial entitled "Why I'm Backing Kinnock , by Stalin ". Murdoch responded to some of the criticisms of the newspaper by saying that critics were "snobs" who want to "impose their tastes on everyone else". MacKenzie claimed the same critics were people who, if they ever had

12194-401: The printers. Rupert Murdoch , meanwhile, had bought the News of the World , a sensationalist Sunday newspaper, the previous year, but the presses in the basement of his building in London's Bouverie Street were unused six days a week. Seizing the opportunity to increase his presence on Fleet Street, he made an agreement with the print unions, promising fewer redundancies if he acquired

12328-645: The purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand daily The Dominion . In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnate Lord Thomson of Fleet . On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which

12462-414: The purchase of the struggling daily The Sun from IPC . Murdoch turned The Sun into a tabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. On acquiring it, he appointed Albert 'Larry' Lamb as editor and – Lamb recalled later – told him: "I want a tearaway paper with lots of tits in it". In 1997 The Sun attracted 10 million daily readers. In 1981, Murdoch acquired

12596-470: The re-election of Ronald Reagan as president of the United States ; Reagan was two weeks shy of his 74th birthday when he started his second term, in January 1985. On 1 March 1984, the newspaper extensively quoted an American psychiatrist claiming that British left-wing politician Tony Benn was "insane", with the psychiatrist discussing various aspects of Benn's supposed pathology. The story, which appeared on

12730-461: The real thing?" and called the planned windfall tax, which was later imposed by the Labour government, "wrongheaded". In February 1997 it told Sir Edward Heath MP to stand down for supporting a national minimum wage. The Sun switched support to the Labour party on 18 March 1997, six weeks before the general election victory which saw the New Labour leader Tony Blair become Prime Minister with

12864-421: The results from one specific study while ignoring other data on HIV infection and not just AIDS infection, which the critics viewed as unethical politicisation of a medical issue. Lord Kilbracken himself criticised The Sun 's editorial and the headline of its news story, stating that, while he thought that gay people were more at risk of developing AIDS, it was still wrong to imply that no one else could catch

12998-407: The same colour as the Daily Mirror . These papers are now known as red tops . The Mirror 's "Live Letters" was matched by "Livelier Letters". Sex was used as an important element in the content and marketing of the paper from the start, which Lamb believed was the most important part of his readers' lives. The first topless Page 3 model appeared on 17 November 1970, Stephanie Rahn ; she

13132-422: The second name on his list of preferences. Lamb was scathing in his opinion of the Daily Mirror , where he had recently been employed as a senior sub-editor, and shared Murdoch's view that a paper's quality was best measured by its sales, and he regarded the Mirror as overstaffed, and too focused on an ageing readership. Godfrey Hodgson of The Sunday Times interviewed Murdoch at this time and expressed

13266-496: The stadium. I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster. As the Prime Minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves. It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written

13400-504: The story in The Sun was one of the worst cases of journalistic malpractice in recent history, putting its own readers in harm's way. At the end of the decade, The Sun ' s coverage of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster , in which 97 people died as a result of their injuries, proved to be, as the paper later admitted, the "most terrible" blunder in its history. Three days after

13534-470: The story out of frustration with Starr, who had been working on a book with McCaffrey. She contacted an acquaintance who worked for The Sun in Manchester. The story reportedly delighted MacKenzie, who was keen to run it, and Max Clifford , who had been Starr's public relations agent. Starr had to be persuaded that the apparent revelation would not damage him, and the attention helped to revive his career. In his 2001 autobiography Unwrapped , Starr wrote that

13668-405: The struggling Times and Sunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet . Ownership of The Times came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of an extended period of industrial action that stopped publication. In the light of success and expansion at The Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn

13802-615: The student journal If Revived . Murdoch studied philosophy, politics and economics at Worcester College, Oxford , in England, where he kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms and came to be known as "Red Rupert". He was a member of the Oxford University Labour Party , stood for secretary of the Labour Club and managed Oxford Student Publications Limited , the publishing house of Cherwell . After his father's death from cancer in 1952, his mother did charity work as

13936-658: The torpedoing of the Argentine ship the General Belgrano by running the story under the headline "GOTCHA". At MacKenzie's insistence, and against the wishes of Murdoch (the mogul was present because almost all the journalists were on strike), the headline was changed for later editions after the extent of Argentinian casualties became known. John Shirley, a reporter for The Sunday Times , witnessed copies of this edition of The Sun being thrown overboard by sailors and marines on HMS  Fearless . After HMS  Sheffield

14070-689: The troubled Sunday Times in Perth , Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory , including the Sydney afternoon tabloid The Daily Mirror (1960). The Economist describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid", as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines. Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved

14204-480: The truth can be told ... the risk of catching AIDS if you are heterosexual is 'statistically invisible'. In other words, impossible. So now we know – everything else is homosexual propaganda". Although many other British press services covered Lord Kilbracken's public comments, none of them echoed the argument in the Sun , and none of them presented Lord Kilbracken's ideas without context or criticism. Critics stated that both The Sun and Lord Kilbracken cherry-picked

14338-454: The two before this point had been explicitly denied in an official history of The Times , documents found in Thatcher's archives in 2012 revealed a secret meeting had taken place a month before in which Murdoch briefed Thatcher on his plans for the paper, such as taking on trade unions. The Sun credited itself with helping her successor John Major to win an unexpected election victory in

14472-610: The unequivocal front-page headline, "VOTE TORY THIS TIME". The Daily Star had been launched in 1978 by Express Newspapers, and by 1981 had begun to affect sales of The Sun . Bingo was introduced as a marketing tool, and a 2p drop in cover price removed the Daily Star ' s competitive advantage, opening a new circulation battle which resulted in The Sun neutralising the threat of the new paper. The new editor of The Sun , Kelvin MacKenzie , took up his post in 1981 just after those developments, and, according to Bruce Page, "changed

14606-536: The usual celebrity and domestic political news items with an entire issue devoted to his own front-line reporting of the genocide in Pol Pot's Cambodia , not only outsold The Sun on the day it was issued, but became the only edition of the Daily Mirror to ever sell every single copy issued, something never achieved by The Sun . In January 1986, Murdoch shut down the Bouverie Street premises of The Sun and News of

14740-513: The way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well. After McEwen and Menzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of

14874-423: Was " outed " by Matthew Parris (a former Sun columnist) on BBC TV's Newsnight in November 1998. Misjudging public response, The Sun 's editor David Yelland demanded to know in a front-page editorial whether Britain was governed by a "gay mafia" of a "closed world of men with a mutual self-interest". Three days later, the paper apologised in another editorial which said The Sun would never again reveal

15008-400: Was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of what was left of the family business. After liquidation of his father's Herald stake to pay taxes, what was left was News Limited , which had been established in 1923. Rupert Murdoch turned its Adelaide newspaper, The News , its main asset, into a major success. He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying

15142-419: Was a terrible, insensitive, horrible article, with a dreadful headline; but what we'd also say is: we have apologised for it, and the entire senior team here now is completely different from the team that put the paper out in 1989." In May 2006, Kelvin MacKenzie , Sun editor at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, returned to the paper as a columnist. Furthermore, on 11 January 2007, MacKenzie stated, while

15276-640: Was already set to acquire 21st Century Fox. However, it was Comcast who won control of BSkyB in a blind auction ordered by the CMA. Murdoch ultimately sold his 39% of BSkyB to Comcast. News Corporation has subsidiaries in the Bahamas , the Cayman Islands , the Channel Islands and the Virgin Islands . From 1986, News Corporation's annual tax bill averaged around seven percent of its profits. In Britain, in

15410-500: Was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne , Victoria , the second of four children of Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) and Dame Elisabeth ( née  Greene ; 1909–2012). He is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His parents were also born in Melbourne. His father was a war correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate, owning two newspapers in Adelaide , South Australia, and

15544-483: Was bought by investors fronted by David Pecker, who personally pledged that Star would never relocate to Florida. Less than a year later, Star was moved into AMI's headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida , sharing the building with the Enquirer and AMI's other recently acquired titles, such as The Globe , National Examiner , and Sun . Editor Phil Bunton was replaced before the move when he angered Pecker; Phil told

15678-476: Was called "spectacularly malicious coverage" of the Labour Party by The Sun and other newspapers. During the 1983 UK general election , The Sun ran a front page featuring an unflattering photograph of Michael Foot , then aged almost 70, claiming he was unfit to be Prime Minister on grounds of his age, appearance and policies, alongside the headline "Do You Really Want This Old Fool To Run Britain?" A year later, The Sun made clear its enthusiastic support for

15812-441: Was for US$ 50 million, but the case was settled before going into court for an undisclosed amount of money. The publisher publicly apologized in a print to Holmes, disclosing that a substantial donation was going to be done under her name to a charity of her choice. A Star magazine's chief editor said that people are only intrigued by the "juiciest dirt", leaving the cover page to be where the most gossip and biggest celebrity news

15946-451: Was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt-Gorton Liberal Party . From the first issue of The Australian, Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. ( The Australian , 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open

16080-416: Was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990. The merged company, BSkyB , has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since, pursuing direct to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting. By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in

16214-532: Was in the El Dorado class." Launched with an advertising budget of £400,000, the brash new paper "burst forth with tremendous energy" according to The Times . Its initial print run of 3.5 million was attributed to "curiosity" and the "advantage of novelty", and had declined to the previous circulation of the Daily Herald (1.2 million) within a few weeks. By 1969, according to Hugh Cudlipp , The Sun

16348-479: Was launched in February 2012 to replace the closed News of the World , employing some of its former journalists. In March 2020, the average circulation for The Sun was 1.21 million, The Sun on Sunday 1,013,777. The Sun has been involved in many controversies in its history, among the most notable being their coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster . Regional editions of the newspaper for Scotland ( The Scottish Sun ), Northern Ireland ( The Sun ), and

16482-584: Was losing about £2 million a year, and had a circulation of 800,000. IPC decided to sell to stop the losses, according to Bernard Shrimsley in 2004, out of a fear that the unions would disrupt publication of the Mirror if they did not continue to publish the original Sun . Bill Grundy wrote in The Spectator in July 1969 that although it published "fine writers" in Geoffrey Goodman , Nancy Banks-Smith and John Akass among others, it had never overcome

16616-487: Was not the only newspaper to print similar stories about the alleged drunkenness and violence among Liverpool fans at the Hillsborough disaster. The Daily Star and Daily Mail were among the newspaper who printed claims that hooliganism was a major factor in the tragedy; however, other papers' stories were presented less prominently. Alex Hern of the New Statesman noted that the Daily Express ' s headline on

16750-456: Was originally from a Labour background with a socialist upbringing, while his temporary replacement Bernard Shrimsley (1972–1975) was a middle-class uncommitted Conservative . An extensive advertising campaign on the ITV network in this period, voiced by actor Christopher Timothy , may have helped The Sun to overtake the Daily Mirror 's circulation in 1978. Despite the industrial relations of

16884-436: Was quoted as claiming that a group of Liverpool supporters told a police officer that they would have sex with a dead female victim. MacKenzie maintained for years that his "only mistake was to believe a Tory MP". In 1993, he told a House of Commons committee, "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said", but privately said at a 2006 dinner that he had only apologised under

17018-678: Was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive". Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including the Daily Telegraph , the Courier-Mail and the Adelaide Advertiser , it was suggested by the commentator Mungo MacCallum in The Monthly that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took

17152-492: Was tagged as a "Birthday Suit Girl" to mark the first anniversary of the relaunched Sun . A topless Page 3 model gradually became a regular fixture, and with increasingly risqué poses. Both feminists and many cultural conservatives saw the pictures as pornographic and misogynistic. Lamb later expressed some regret at introducing the feature, although he denied it was sexist. A Conservative council in Sowerby Bridge , Yorkshire,

17286-401: Was that "The only serious radicals in British politics these days are the likes of Redwood, Lilley and Portillo". It also gradually expressed its bitter disillusionment with John Major as Prime Minister, with headlines such as "What fools we were to back John Major". Between 1994 and 1996, The Sun 's circulation peaked. Its highest average sale was in the week ending 16 July 1994, when

17420-474: Was the Sun after its original launch in 1964. Murdoch stopped publication there in 1969; this put the ageing Bouverie Street presses under extreme pressure as circulation grew. Additionally, Murdoch found he had such a rapport with Larry Lamb over lunch that other potential recruits as editor were not interviewed and Lamb was appointed as the first editor of the new Sun . Lamb wanted Bernard Shrimsley to be his deputy, which Murdoch accepted as Shrimsley had been

17554-429: Was the first to ban the paper from its public library, shortly after Page 3 began, because of its excessive sexual content. Shrimsley, Lamb's deputy, came up with the headline, "The Silly Burghers of Sowerby Bridge" to describe the councillors. The decision was reversed after a sustained campaign by the newspaper itself lasting 16 months, and the election of a Labour-led council in 1971. The Labour MP Alex Lyon waved

17688-563: Was to become a political issue in Britain. This later changed, with The Sun , in its English editions, publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron 's Conservative Party , which soon afterwards formed a coalition government. In Scotland, where the Conservatives had suffered a complete annihilation in 1997, the paper began to endorse the Scottish National Party (though not yet its flagship policy of independence), which soon after came to form

17822-559: Was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson , the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman . The Conservatives did not disclose what was discussed. The Sun (United Kingdom) Defunct The Sun is a British tabloid newspaper , published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK , itself

17956-439: Was wrecked by an Argentinian attack, The Sun was heavily criticised and even mocked in the Daily Mirror and The Guardian for its coverage of the war, and the wider media queried the veracity of official information and worried about the number of casualties, The Sun gave its response. "There are traitors in our midst", wrote leader writer Ronald Spark on 7 May, accusing commentators on Daily Mirror and The Guardian , plus

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