General Election 2015: ‘Red Ed’ pays price for standing up to media barons

The Labour leader must prepare himself for a full 'Kinnocking' until polling day

The Labour leader is in for a tough time from Conservative-leaning press until polling day (Getty)

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The headlines Ed Miliband has woken up to on the campaign trail have confirmed, if he did not already know it, that the Labour leader will receive a full “Kinnocking” from the Conservative-leaning press until polling day.

For the Rupert Murdoch-owned News UK, a Labour government led by an openly-hostile Miliband – bent on introducing market restrictions on media empires and full implementation of the Leveson report – must be prevented at all costs. The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail have also aimed both barrels at Miliband. The Labour leader is a “north London quasi-Marxist” to the Mail, which has railed against the “double standards of champagne socialists”.

Whilst the Telegraph and Mail have in the past criticised Mr Cameron for being insufficiently tough on Europe and immigration, the Miliband threat has sparked a return to core Tory loyalism. “If Cameron isn’t up to winning the election, we’ll have to win it for him,” said one source.

Lord Rothermere’s titles could fall within Labour’s sights. With 37.7 million monthly readers of the Daily Mail and Metro in print and online, the party’s proposed cap on media ownership would affect his titles more than Mr Murdoch’s, which operate behind a paywall online.