To the Daily Mail she is the “most dangerous woman in Britain”, while her party is accused of “blackmail” on the front pages of three leading rightwing UK newspapers. But on a day when new research revealed that women are barely getting a mention in this election, at least Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP, is getting some attention.
Possibly for the first time in a general election, a story about the Scottish National Party is on the front pages of all quality newspapers bar the Independent on the day of its manifesto launch. As is proving typical of much election coverage, details of the policies themselves did not merit as much coverage as comments on them from elsewhere, in this case doom-laden warnings from Tory grandees.
The Times and Telegraph led with a speech by former prime minister John Major warning that a Labour government supported by the SNP would face a “daily dose of political blackmail” that would cause “mayhem” and lead to higher taxes and job losses. The Mail contented itself with a black-edged masthead with a shouty-looking Sturgeon alongside the headline “How I’ll blackmail England for £148bn by the most dangerous woman in Britain”.
The Guardian front page was a riposte of sorts by running an interview with Lord Forsyth, the last Tory secretary of state for Scotland, who claimed that David Cameron’s tactic of talking up the success of Sturgeon and her party could backfire by breaking up the union rather than simply wiping out Labour north of the border. He accused the party of a “short-term and dangerous view which threatens the integrity of our country”.
Front pages of the Sun and Mirror ignored the SNP altogether with the Sun choosing to focus on allegations about a Labour MP paying £4-a-day to interns while the Mirror splashed on the “new health scare” over cancer-inducing vitamin excess. Only the Daily Star put a picture of Sturgeon on the front page with “Nic holds Britain by the ballots”.
Sturgeon, appointed party leader after the close-fought Scottish independence referendum last year, may have become a media bogey woman, but she has at least won the accolade for most featured woman in this election. New research by Loughborough University revealed that 86% of all politicians featured in election coverage have been men since the start of the campaign proper. This is despite three parties, the Greens and Plaid Cymru as well as the SNP, being led by women. Leaders’ wives but especially Samantha Cameron have received more attention. Men dominated all other professional capacities such as “business spokespeople, experts, public professionals” etc. The one category women dominated was “politicians’ relative” (80%).
Talking of candidates who win no press popularity contest, a Guardian profile of prospective Labour candidate Keir Starmer was the first for a while which didn’t include telling readers that he was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service when it started its “witch hunt” against journalists – otherwise known as Operation Elveden.