Oh come on, Tom. It has long been known as the Tory party house mag.
Here is just one op. piece:
- there are no extreme right wing papers in this country? In recent months, the Daily Mail has alleged links between Ed Miliband and Stalin and claimed that "liberalism" is caused by a faulty gene. Meanwhile, the Daily Express has run a poll asking its readers if they think our schools are being ruined by foreign children. In what way do you regard these things as "centre" anything?
and here is another in greater depth:
Founded in 1896 by the Harmsworth brothers, Alfred (later Lord Rothermere) and Harold (later Lord Northcliffe), and aimed at a more populist readership than the established dailies (with a purchase price of ½d rather than the 1d charged by the rest of the London dailies).
From the outset it was rabidly conservative, attracting some criticism for its pro-Empire stance and lack of objectivity during the 1899-1902 South African War (the “Boer War”). In 1934 Lord Rothermere wrote an infamous op-ed, “Hurrah for the Blackshirts”, in praise of Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists. Even after the Mail dropped its support for the BUF after violence at a 1934 meeting at Kensington Olympia, it nevertheless maintained a sympathetic stance towards Hitler right up until 1939.
It maintains this right-wing conservative (with a “c” as well as with a “C”) to the present day, being anti-Europe, anti-immigration, anti-taxation, anti-abortion, anti-permissive, anti-(the list goes on and on…). Articles tend to be written in one of two tones – either sycophantic praise of the lifestyles of middle-class role models and their trappings, or (more usually) moral outrage at the ever-increasing wickedness and instability of the modern world. It’s frequently lampooned by Private Eye for this, especially over house prices – rises, falls and stagnation are all given mock headlines describing them in fearful and pessimistic terms – and has acquired the nickname the Daily Heil in some quarters.
