Conservative leadership race: The power of the media that took down Boris – Who was Team Boris?
Since Boris Johnson resigned, the power of traditional media has been felt amongst the candidates vying for press backing and Tory voters.
You could be forgiven for believing newspapers hold little relevance in today’s climate, but this Tory leadership race has been built on coverage.
“Even in an age when Twitter drives much of the day-to-day discussion in Westminster, the print editions of a handful of newspapers – and their proprietors – still hold substantial power over internal Conservative politics,” writes the Guardian.
Penny Mordaunt’s popularity has dipped both amongst Tory MPs and Tory Party members – according to polls.
The Daily Mail is backing Truss as it makes clear at it believes the ousting of Boris Johnson was a mistake. Rishi Sunak is in the Mail’s firing line as they blame him the most for the downfall of Johnson’s government – arguably the double shock resignation of Sunak and former health secretary Sajid Javid triggered the mass resignation of MPs, leading to Boris Johnson’s resignation.
The day following the resignation, the paper’s front page asked “What the hell have they done?” and the following day, the 1.4 million people who buy the Mail’s Saturday’s print were told MPs such as Sunak were “Tory traitors” who had opened the doors to Labour entering Downing Street.
For Tories – winning the support of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Sun and the Daily Express is massively important as it may be in the pool of roughly 100,000 Tory members who will select the next PM.
But newspaper endorsements are also in part a self-fulfilling prophecy – a symbolic victory that is seen as giving momentum to a leadership campaign making it easier for MPs and party members to come on board with a candidate for victory.
The paper’s attack on Penny Mordaunt is to ensure Liz Truss makes it to the final two – with the hope the papers could help her get over the line and become prime minister.
The strong support for Johnson is somewhat jarring considering up until last autumn, the paper was fairly critical of the prime minister. But a change of editor, and the newspaper is now one of Boris Johnson’s most loyal papers.
Several Tory candidates chose to launch their bids in the Daily Telegraph – the in-house outlet of the Tory party.
The Express has a pro-Tory editorial line but is edited by a lifelong Labour supporter – Gary Jones, who used its front page to emphasise how the PM’s allies are promoting Truss to stop Sunak.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned The Sun and the Times are known for liking to back winners and might wait until we’re down to the final two to formally back their favoured candidate.
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