ABSTRACT
On 9 April 1992, the Sun rounded off a comprehensive electoral assault on Labour by placing the Labour leader’s head in a lightbulb beside the words, ‘If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.’1 This, and the fierce debate such coverage generated after the Conservative victory, marked a symbolic climax to a period between 1979-1992 when Labour faced the sustained opposition of a popular press more hostile than at any time in the post-war period. This chapter begins by exploring this briefly in relation to 1979-1987, before going on to assess in more detail press behaviour and its impact on the 1992 election.
