Daily Mirror - Political Allegiance

Political Allegiance

The Daily Mirror has traditionally backed the Labour Party at general elections.

On 3 May 1979, the day of the general election, the Daily Mirror urged its readers to vote for the governing Labour Party led by James Callaghan. As widely predicted by the opinion polls, Labour lost this election, which was won by the Conservative Party and saw Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister. The Mirror's continued support of the Labour government was in spite of its falling popularity over the previous few months which had been the result of the Winter of Discontent, where the country was crippled by numerous public sector strikes.

By the time of the 1983 general election, Labour support was at a postwar low, partly due to the strong challenge by the recently formed SDP-Liberal Alliance. Despite this, the Daily Mirror remained loyal to Labour and urged its readers to vote for the party (now led by Michael Foot), condemning the Thatcher-led Tory government for its "waste of our nation", condemning the rise in unemployment that Thatcher's Conservative government had seen in its first term in power largely due to monetarist economic policies to reduce inflation, though the government's previously low popularity had dramatically improved since the success of the Falklands conflict a year earlier. However, the Tories were re-elected and Labour suffered its worst postwar general election result, only narrowly bettering the SDP-Liberal Alliance in terms of votes, though winning considerably more seats.

At the 1987 general election, the Daily Mirror remained loyal to Labour (now led by Neil Kinnock) and urged its readers "You know he's right, chuck her out". By this stage, unemployment was falling and inflation had remained low for several years. However, the Tories were re-elected for a third successive term, although Labour did cut the Tory majority slightly.

For the 1992 general election, the Daily Mirror continued to support Labour, still led by Neil Kinnock. By this stage Margaret Thatcher had stepped down and the Tory government was now led by John Major. However, the election was won by the Tories, though Labour had managed to significantly cut the Tory majority to 21 seats compared to the triple-digit figure of the previous two elections, which led to a difficult term for Major. The outcome of this election had been far less predictable than any of the previous three elections, as opinion polls over the previous three years had shown both parties in the lead, although any Labour lead in the polls had been relatively narrow since the Conservative government's change of leader from Thatcher to Major in November 1990, in spite of the onset of a recession in 1990 which had pushed unemployment up again after several years of decline. Labour's credibility was helped by plans including extra NHS funding and moving away from firm commitments on re-nationalisation to reverse the Conservative policy of privatisation, but its decision to be up-front about tax increases was seen as a key factor in its failure to win.

By the time of the 1997 general election, support for the Labour Party, now led by Tony Blair, in the opinion polls had exceeded that of support for the Tory government (still led by John Major) since late 1992, the government's reduced popularity largely blamed on the failings of Black Wednesday in September of that year and it had failed to recover popularity in spite of a strong economic recovery and fall in unemployment. A reinvented "New Labour" had further improved its credibility under Blair by promising traditional Labour essentials including more funding for healthcare and education, but also promising not to increase income tax and ending its commitment to the nationalisation of leading industries. The Daily Mirror urged its readers that their country needed Tony Blair, and to vote Labour. The election produced a Labour landslide and ended the party's 18-year exile from power.

On 4 May 2010, the newspaper printed a picture of Conservative Leader David Cameron with a giant red cross through his face. The headline read "How to stop him" in reference to the general election two days later, thus confirming the Daily Mirror's Labour allegiance. The election ended in Britain's first hung parliament since 1974, but Cameron still became prime minister of the country within days as the Conservatives formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The Daily Mirror was the only leading national newspaper to remain loyal to Labour and Gordon Brown at a time when opinion polls showed them on course for their worst election result since 1983.

The newspaper has been critical of the Liberal Democrats for forming the coalition which enabled the Conservatives to form a new government in 2010. It has branded leader Nick Clegg as Pinickio (in comparison with the cartoon character Pinnochio) for going back on numerous pre-election pledges. It has frequently referred to the party as the "Fib Dems" or "Lib Dumbs".