The Political Alliance of the Newspapers

MPs have not been honest in claiming for the expenses and allowances

In this blog I am going to identify the political alliances of two British newspapers by analysing their terminology and the images they use. I will be looking at online articles of The Sun (www.thesun.co.uk) and
The Independent (www.independent.co.uk) to identify their political alliances. These articles appeared on The Sun website on 13^th November 2012 and on The Independent website on 14^th November 2012.

Both newspapers have written articles regarding the MP expenses scandals however The Sun has clearly decided to heavily criticise Labour MP, Margaret Moran. This is in contrast of The Independent who has identified two MPs, one from Labour and one from the Tories, guilty of irregular claims of their expenses. The Independent also criticise Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg's of blocking reform that would expel MPs from parliament if found guilty of any wrong-doing.


Labour MP, Margaret Moran was
heavily criticised by The Sun

The Sun has used several terms to in their article to describe Labour MPs so that Labour are portrayed negatively. They describe Margaret Moran who “fiddled her expenses” “forged invoices” and used a “fake bill”. In addition The Sun has pictured Margaret Moran wearing red. This reinforces to the reader that she is a Labour party member. It is this persecution of this Labour MP that makes The Sun have a current political alliance towards the coalition government.

The Independent have do not have a political alliance. This is evident in their report. Firstly, they criticise Tory MP Lord Hanningfield as he “trousered £3,600 in attendance allowances” and how he only served a nine weeks of a nine month sentence.

Lord Hanningfield went to prison for
the irregularities in his expenses

The Independent also criticises former Labour peer, Pola Uddin, but inform their readers that she was never prosecuted. The Independent reports that she was told to “repay £125,349 of dodgy expenses” and “was hoping that she wouldn’t have the gall to show her face again” and say that since June she has claimed £1,800 in attendance allowances.

The end of the article reports that the idea of MPs being expelled from parliament in light of any wrong-doings should have “the power to expel miscreants” was popular amongst MPs across all parties. However Nick Clegg blocked the proposal in fear that small reforms will weaken his desire to abolish the Lords and creating an elected chamber.

The Independent seems to be impartial in view of political parties but seem to have a slight slant against the Liberal Democrats.

Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg blocked proposals to expel
 MPs from Parliament if found guilty of any wrong-doings