It's The Sun Wot Won It

"It's The Sun Wot Won It" is a famous headline that appeared on the front-page of "The Sun" on Saturday 11 April 1992, and has since become a political catch phrase in the United Kingdom. [cite paper |last= |first= |author=J. Curtice |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Was it the Sun wot won it again? The influence of newspapers in the 1997 election campaign |version= |pages= |publisher= |date=September 1999 |url=http://www.crest.ox.ac.uk/papers/p75.pdf |format=pdf |id= |accessdate=2008-05-04 ]

Origin

The headline referred to "The Sun's" contribution to the unexpected Conservative victory in the 1992 general election. [cite news |title=Forty years of The Sun |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3654446.stm |work= BBC News |publisher=BBC News Online |date=2004-09-14 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ] What influence the newspaper had on voters in the narrow Conservative victory is unclear, but in the leading up to polling day, the newspaper led a campaign against the Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock which culminated in the election day headline, "If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights". [cite news |title=Could it be the Sun wot wins it again?|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4470557.stm |work= BBC News |publisher=BBC News Online |date=2005-04-21 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ]

Later use

Variations of the headline are frequently used in the UK media during elections. The phrase was used again by many political commentators after the 1997 general election when "The Sun" supported Tony Blair. In 2004, it was said to be "The Guardian" "wot lost it" for John Kerry in the presidential election, after the newspaper started a letter writing campaign to voters in Ohio urging them to vote for Kerry; the state went for George W. Bush. [cite news |title=Lady Antonia of Clark County |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/lady-antonia-of-clark-county-532409.html |work= The Independent |author=Ian Burrell |publisher=independent.co.uk|date=2004-11-08 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ] More recently in the 2008 London Mayoral election, it was supposedly the Evening Standard 'wot won it' for Boris Johnson. [cite news |title=So was it the 'Standard' wot won it?|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/so-was-it-the-standard-wot-won-it-or-just-a-sign-of-the-times-820745.html |work= The Independent |author=Tim Luckhurst |publisher=independent.co.uk|date=2008-05-04 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ] "The Sun" has recently used a variation of the headline for a debate at the Oxford Union over the Page Three girl claiming 'It's Sun's girls wot won it'. [cite news |title=It's Sun's girls wot won it|url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1088577.ece |work= The Sun |publisher=thesun.co.uk|date=2008-04-25 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ] [cite news |title=The Sun shines bright at the Oxford Union's Page 3 girl debate|url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article3839843.ece |work= The Times |publisher=timesonline.co.uk|date=2008-04-30 |accessdate=2008-05-04 ]

References