Murdoch’s Sun eclipses Brown’s big speech

Cabinet ministers are doing their best to dismiss its significance, but of course Rupert Murdoch's decision - sorry, the Sun's editorial decision - to endorse the Conservatives this morning is serious, not so much for its message, which was to be expected, but for its timing.

Gordon Brown had been allowed to enjoy his post-conference speech glow for only a matter of hours before the news came through that this morning's headline would read: "LABOUR'S LOST IT".

George Pascoe-Watson, the Sun's political editor, told BBC Newsnight: "We've now decided after four more years, particularly after the prime minister's... underwhelming performance in his conference speech, that it was time now to take a verdict and announce that verdict to the nation."

The idea that this was an instant response to an "underwhelming" speech by the PM is, as Pascoe-Watson's paper might have put it, BOLLOCKS.

The consensus in the bars of Brighton is that the decision goes back to a meeting between Murdoch and David Cameron last August, engineered by the PR man Matthew Freud, who is married to Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth.

Murdoch had never been persuaded of Cameron's abilities - he appeared a little too slick for the Australian's taste - until Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade), the former Sun editor now running News International, stepped in as mediator. After Freud flew Cameron to have dinner with Murdoch on his yacht the Roseharty, the newspaper magnate was finally won over, it seems.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson's instant response is that it is "electors that decide elections not newspapers" and we can expect more comments of that kind over the coming 24 hours.

But the fact is the headline has already had the effect of eclipsing the actual content and spirit of Brown speech - his promise to remodel the economy, clean up politics and create a more responsible society, and his call on delegates to "dream big dreams".

If victory next May isn't an impossible dream for Labour, it remains an uphill struggle of truly awesome proportions. The Sun, which despite its tit-and-bum image enjoys nothing more than getting stuck into a political fight, just made it tougher still.

And, of course, as the paper never fails to remind us on these occasions, when Neil Kinnock looked set to take Labour to victory in 1992, the Sun ran its famous election day front page: "If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights."

Kinnock lost to John Major, and the Sun was able to declare: "It's The Sun Wot Won It". Enough said.