Do You Think That A National Newspaper Will Come Out In Support Of Ukip Prior To The Next General Election ?

[sp1814]

And if so, which one?

If I were a betting man, I'd go for the Express. But I suspect right-leaning papers are conscious of splitting the Conservative vote, letting Labour in.

Thoughts?

[WELSHYORKIE]

The Sun - always supporting the t*ts

[Zacs-Master]

LOL ^^^^
If one does, I won't be buying it.

[jno]

the Star might. The Mail is far too desperate to keep the Tories in its pocket, and the Express is mostly that way inclined too (though its owner is a rogue pygmy elephant who doesn't always behave logically).

[sandyRoe]

No. They'd bite their tongue. But we could see, or rather the readers of such rags could see, editorials exhorting Cameron and co to sidle to the right.

[weecalf]

Why should it matter what these comics say .Voters will make up their own mind .wont they?

[youngmafbog]

Interesting question SP.

I suspect it may well depend on how things are going at the time. If the Tories staunchly refuse to do anything about immigration, Europe and the ECHR (HRA) then you may see The Sun come out in favour since they are always preliminary interested in selling papers and will print what people want to see.

As for the other papers, no I dont think any would even consider it although it would be an excellent poly of a left wing rag to attempt to split the vote !

[Gromit]

I would not be surprised if Murdoch fails to support the Conservatives next time. The Times may not support anyone, and the Sun could be tempted by UKip.

The Mail and Express/Star will support the Conservatives.

The Mirror and Guardian will support Labour.

I can see several reasons why the Sun might be tempted to support Farage.

[Hypognosis]

@sp1814

I think not. There would be a long process of backpedalling and credibility-recovery required in the aftermath, if they backed the party which came in 4th, or worse. Or am I completely under estimating the level of support for them?

I am not so sure about UKIP splitting solely the Tory vote. I'm wondering if some voters might be tempted to think that they'd be a good choice of 'protest vote'? You know, when there's no chance of them actually winning the seat so no risk of lasting damage. This might split/reduce the protest vote element of the LibDem share, reducing the feasibility of coalition pairings and returning us to a straight two party showdown.

[modeller]

I know many of our local Labour party members support UKIP because it's the working class who have lost the most from unbridled immigration.

[ichkeria]

The Times will turn out for the Tories, undoubtedly. They've been training their fire on UKIP (admittedly an easy target for an intelligent readership) for some time now.

[Gromit]

The relationship between the Conservative Party and News International is not great. A lot has happened since the election and Mudochs support shouldn't be taken for granted. I can't see the Times supporting anyone else, but they might support no one.

[ichkeria]

I think the new Times editor is more of a Tory than the previous one (now at the BBC)

[jno]

the new editor used to edit the Sunday Times and it wasn't a particularly Tory newspaper. He does have this howler on his record

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/europe/article3712126.ece

so accuracy isn't necessarily his strong point.

His predecessor was pretty even-handed.

However, the man now in charge of the Times' comment pages is a Tory activist

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/mar/03/tim-montgomerie-times-openly-conservative-home

so I would expect the paper to back the Conservatives.

[craft1948]

I'm more interested in which kamikaze paper would support Nick Clegg.

[baza]

i can't see the Socialist Worker supporting UKIP somehow.