Why doesn't Miliband have "Stop Murdoch-Vote Labour" signs all over the place?

[Ken Burch]

Labour is pledged to force Murdoch's "News Group" to sell off at least one paper. Virtually everyone on the left sideof the UK political spectrum, and anyone who'd even consider voting Labour, despises Rupert The Bald and everything he stands for.

Why doesn't Miliband do the obvious thing and make his courageous anti-Murdoch stance a major point of his campaign?

Murdoch is already obsessed with stopping a Labour victory, so Labour would have nothing to lose.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. In 2004, Sun readers were 41% Labour voters, 32% Tory

https://www.ipsos-mori.com/DownloadPublication/240_sri_you_are_what_you_read_042005.pdf
(compared with national average 35% Labour, 33% Tory then)

It'd be a campaign that many potential Labour voters don't care about, and I'm sure the Tories would paint it as Miliband wanting to use the leadership of the nation to settle a personal vendetta.

[Ken Burch]

2. But it's not a personal vendetta

Millions of people throughout the UK want to see Murdoch get his wings clipped.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. But the Tories would easily make it look like one

"Make me Prime Minister and I'll attack this one person" looks dangerously like misuse of office. I think it would be a very dubious way of getting votes, and I hate Murdoch.

[LeftishBrit]

5. I don't think it's 'attacking one person'; it's attacking a media Empire

But I agree that this is how the Tories, and the Murdoch and other RW press, could spin it.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Because with the power that King Rupert has, that would be political suicide

The Sun has a wider readership than any other paper in this country; and Murdoch and his clan are utterly ruthless. Yes, he is obsessed with stopping Labour now; but that's nothing to how he'd be if they directly campaigned against him.

And while English left-wingers with an interest in politics might be swayed by this, most of them would be planning to vote Labour (or anti-Tory) anyway. This is not, I think, an issue that would be top on the list for floating voters; Scots leaning toward the SNP; or people unsure whether to vote at all.