Murdoch is leaning towards backing Labour

The Murdochs’ UK newspapers are potentially leaning towards backing Labour if Sir Keir Starmer maintains the party’s strong lead over the Conservatives, sources close to the father-and-son media moguls say.

But the positions of The Times and The Sun are “not a done deal” amid doubts over whether Labour can “hit the home run” by the time the election comes around, senior insiders told i.

Two senior sources familiar with the views of both Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan – who now runs the family media empire News Corp following his father’s retirement last year – said the pair are “inclined to back Labour” but that there remains some scepticism “within the boardroom” over whether Starmer can sustain his lead over Rishi Sunak’s party.

“If you look at the polls right now, then you’re looking at a landslide for Labour,” said one News Corp executive, referring to the party’s projected 45 per cent vote share, compared to the Conservatives’ 25 per cent in a recent poll of polls.

“In years gone by titles like The Times and The Sun would have already gotten behind Starmer, but there remains some doubts over his and Labour’s ability to hit the home run,” they said.

“If the UK election was in May, then there would not be as much scepticism in the boardroom around Labour’s ability to balls this up. The bosses are inclined to back Labour, but it’s not a done deal because, like most people, we don’t expect the election to take place until around November.”

The News Corp executive also suggested “a grain of bitterness” towards Starmer still exists after he backed the prosecution of Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of New Corp’s London operation News UK.

In 2014, after leaving his role as the Director of Public Prosecutions and before he became a Labour MP, Starmer said it had been the correct decision to charge Ms Brooks and other News of the World executives over the phone hacking scandal.

Ms Brooks, who from 2000 to 2003 was editor of the News of the World which eventually closed down due to the hacking scandal, was cleared by a jury of any wrongdoing. Others were found guilty including Andy Coulson, her deputy editor and former head of communications for David Cameron. A number of other reporters and an editor plead guilty.

“I doubt Rebekah will be too keen on backing Starmer at the election as there’s no love lost there,” said the News Corp source. “But she’s the ultimate professional and she will also know what the readers of papers will want to hear when the election is close. I’m sure Rebekah and Starmer are both big enough to put their previous difficulties behind them.”

i previously revealed that Starmer had stepped up Labour’s bid to woo the Murdochs’ newspapers.

Support from national newspapers has played a significant role in past elections. After the public turned away from Labour and backed the Conservatives in 1992, The Sun declared on its front page: “It’s The Sun wot won it.” On the day of the election, the tabloid’s front page had read: “If [Neil] Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.”

In July 1995, then Labour leader Tony Blair flew halfway round the world to cement his relationship with Rupert Murdoch at a News Corp conference on Hayman Island, Australia.

Introducing him, the media tycoon joked: “If the British press is to be believed, today is all part of a Blair-Murdoch flirtation.

“If that flirtation is ever consummated, Tony, I suspect we will end up making love like two porcupines – very carefully.”

The love-in was indeed consummated when, in 1997, Murdoch switched to Blair’s New Labour project.

News Corp stayed with the party for 12 years, before switching back to the Tories under David Cameron in 2010.

Over the past two decades, The Times has supported the party that ended up winning the most seats in each election.

Meanwhile in the US, Fox News bosses are reluctantly set to throw their weight behind Donald Trump in the race for the White House if he succeeds in his bid to become the Republican candidate for the autumn election. Senior figures at the Murdochs’ US media empire told i last month that the conservative channel would not support the former president as aggressively as it did during the 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns.

Rupert Murdoch famously infuriated Trump by phoning him to tell him he had lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden and their relationship hasn’t been the same since. The Murdochs’ reluctant support for Trump via Fox News is unlikely to be repeated across the family’s other media assets, according to a source.

Away from the election, the bigger question for the Murdoch newspapers is their future.

A figure familiar with Lachlan’s views on News Corp’s UK assets suggested he had “gone cold” on them and that he is not as keen to retain them as his father.

The News Corp advisor said: “Lachlan does not see as much value in retaining the UK assets as his father does, and if he had everything his own way, I suspect he’d put all the newspapers up for sale at least, and possibly everything within the News UK stable, including TalkTV, TalkSport, Times Radio and Virgin Radio.

“The damage done over phone hacking has become something of costly issue for the business, but there’s still plenty of value in brands like The Times, Sunday Times and The Sun.”

They added: “But people should never underestimate Rupert’s emotional attachment to those papers and the UK business. While he’s still showing up in the building, it appears unlikely Lachlan will sell off the UK business.”

The Duke of Sussex’s claims of unlawful information gathering against The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, which is part of News UK, is set for trial next year.

The Murdoch empire has already paid out more than £1bn in settlements to celebrities and public figures who claim their phones were hacked.

A spokeswoman for New UK said: “‘We won’t comment on what is simply speculation.”