The European elections audit

How the nationals covered the European and local campaigns from May 12-26

The Sun

Unfortunately, SubScribe's Sun archive has become corrupted, so the audit cannot be completed.
The montage above shows some of the material produced in print and online, including what was probably the most imaginative results-day front page (if you ignore the Katie rat's lie detector).
The Sun was far more even-handed than most papers in its reporting, giving space to Ed Miliband and Labour in relation to the European elections, rather than let him focus solely on domestic issues. There was still no space for the Greens, however. 
Tony Parsons famously declared his intention of voting for Ukip and explained why in his post-election column. Trevor Kavanagh had earlier profiled Nigel Farage and expressed concerns about both the leader and his party. Louise Mensch had her knives out for Miliband, while Rod Liddle turned his venom on LibDems.
It was really quite refreshing to find what is regarded as a rabid Eurosceptic Murdoch mouthpiece giving space to such diverse opinion.

The opinions

I am always besieged by decent ex-Tory and ex-Labour voters if I portray Ukip supporters as less than fully sane. And indeed there are oddballs, crooks and deviants in all parties.
But for a small party, Ukip has more than its fair share, some of them quite nasty. As for Nigel Farage himself, I have my worries. He runs the party as his personal fiefdom. It is hard to imagine him as a collegiate Cabinet minister, still less as Prime Minister. If he fell under a bus, Ukip would go with him.
Is he racist? He is married to a German which suggests he is far from xenophobic. But he too often sounds like it.
He has been accused of — and denies — using the N-word in private. The key to his success is playing on our fears and prejudices, not our generous good natures.
- Trevor Kavanagh, May 19

Today could be the day the Liberal Democrats sort of cease to exist. A momentous occasion, then.
A bit like that glorious day in 1980 when the World Health Organisation announced smallpox had been eradicated for ever.
All the suggestions are that Nick Clegg’s band of mithering, incompetent, wet-lipped bores will take a real beating at the polls today.
They could end up with their lowest number of councillors since long before Justin Bieber was born. And wiped out in the Euro elections!
They may retreat back to where they were in the early Seventies — a sort of funny farm for bearded, lentil-chewing, sandal-wearing weirdos. The place where they belong. This is my attempt to convince you that voting today is worth the effort.
- Rod Liddle, May 22
You may hate Labour for borrowing vast sums, spending it like drunks, negligently exposing our economy to the full wrath of the global recession and then refusing to apologise for it.
You may hate them for letting millions of immigrants into Britain without a thought for schools, hospitals, transport and housing.
You may hate the Tories for agreeing with much of Labour’s spending back then, and the apparent unfairness of some cuts they’ve made to balance the books.
You may hate the Lib Dems for ditching the principles that bought them votes in 2010, and for their self-serving treachery in coalition.
The most obvious way to give them a kicking is to vote Ukip. Many will.
But we don’t urge you to do that.
We have grave doubts about the apparently limitless extremists among the party’s supporters and candidates — and Nigel Farage’s inability to weed them out. To say nothing of his own remarks.
We DO share Ukip’s anger over the EU. We believe the referendum David Cameron has promised is vital and, though we are sceptical how much he can achieve, we back him first to negotiate to reclaim our powers.
This election serves as a vent for our fury at politicians. 
Next May’s General Election will decide our fate for real, including our EU future....
It’s rare for The Sun to endorse no one at an election. Today that is what we do.
It doesn’t matter which candidate you put your cross by. But get the anger out of your system.
Next year your vote will matter. To make the right choice you’ll need a cool head.

- Leading article, May 22

The wordle*

*based on online headline words
The European elections audit
How the Press
covered the campaign and the aftermath
Plus the papers' detailed breakdown
The Daily Telegraph 
The Guardian 
The Independent
Daily Mirror
Daily Express
The Times
Daily Mail
The last wordle
Ukip did best in Essex.
And Essex is always important because the old tribal loyalties of politics mean nothing in our most populous county.
The idea of voting Labour or Tory for a lifetime just because your dear old granny did is completely alien to the people of Essex — who tend to be hard-working, self-reliant, patriotic, family-orientated, aspirational and shrewd.
That is why Essex is so politically crucial, and such a bellwether, and tells us where our country is heading.
In Essex they do not vote for a party simply because their parents voted that way.
Essex Man voted for Maggie Thatcher in three General Elections.
Remodelled as Mondeo Man, and toning down the Estuary accent, he put Tony Blair in power and kept him there.
What is different about New Essex Man is the visceral loathing he feels for the established parties. He despises them all!
Tony Parsons
May 26
Farage’s bunch of clowns won a handful of councillors on Friday morning and Auntie Beeb had a fit of the vapours.
In fact, we’ve heard this before – it bigs up Ukip every chance it gets. Try this headline: “Local elections – Nigel Farage hails results as a ‘game changer’. UKIP won over 140 seats and 25 per cent of the vote... ”
That was 2013. A year ago. UKIP controlled zero councils. Today, the saviours of the Reds control... a whopping zero councils.
And they have new MEPs – ones you didn’t vote for, most likely, in the tiny-turnout election.
Ones you can’t name because you don’t have a clue which EU region you live in or how many MEPs it has. Let alone what party they all are.
And why should you? Do MEPs matter? Of course not. The UK can’t overrule Brussels and those Ukip troughers you voted in have the worst attendance record in that parliament.
- Louise Mensch
May 26
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