Claim of a Deal Between The Sun and Starmer Is ‘Conspiracy Theory Created For Clicks’, News UK Insiders Say

Claims that the Prime Minister and The Sun struck a ‘deal’ to suppress an alleged story about Keir Starmer’s marriage – and for Labour to receive the newspaper’s backing in July’s General Election – have been dismissed as “complete fantasy” at the Murdoch title.

Senior News UK sources have taken the unusual step of briefing against the “nakedly untrue” allegations that a Starmer Government, in return, would not pursue the second part of the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, ethics, and practices of the British press, which was launched in the wake of the exposure of the phone-hacking scandal in 2011.

One source told Byline Times: “There’s a feeling that because The Sun is always giving it, we should never respond when we take a few hits. But we are strong on this point: there is just no truth to it – it’s a conspiracy theory for clicks, nothing more.”

There is no suggestion that The Sun ever had, or believed it had, any legitimate grounds to invade the Prime Minister’s right to his family and private life.

The allegation was made on a vlog run by former Sun employee, Dan Wootton, and repeated on X (formerly Twitter) by the newspaper’s former editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, who became notorious for falsely smearing the dead of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster on its front page in 1989.

Wootton’s vlog post, and his X posts relating to it – as well as that of MacKenzie – have since been deleted. It is not known whether the pair came under pressure to do so by News UK and its lawyers.

Former Sun and MailOnline senior editor Wootton alleged in the vlog post that The Sun dropped an “investigation” into the Starmer’s marriage in the run-up to the July election.

He claimed to have access to “insider” information from The Sun, alleging that it had “duped” its readers by dropping an investigation into the Prime Minister’s “personal life” after Editor Victoria Newton – who Wootton described as “a Starmer fan girl” – cut an “astonishing” deal which saw it “inexplicably” back Labour and “left executives… torn for many weeks”.

The arrangement, Wootton alleged, saw News UK accept a “cast-iron guarantee” that a Labour Government would not launch the second part of the Leveson Inquiry, which was intended to examine the relationship between journalists and the police, and which would also likely have addressed allegations that several prominent witnesses gave wrong evidence to Leveson 1.

Wootton left his role as a presenter on GB News last year following an on-air misogyny scandal involving actor-turned-activist Laurence Fox. It came after a three-year investigation by Byline Times unmasked him as the prolific catfish and sexual blackmailer “Martin Branning”.

According to the source, Wootton is “an embittered former employee who is just trying to be a nuisance and to make money by running a conspiracy blog” and that it is “the right thing to step in and call this out as utter bollocks from Wootton”.

Another senior source at News UK told Byline Times that “Wootton’s claims are nakedly untrue” and that he “has no insights into the activity and decisions at this newspaper”.

“No one here – certainly none of the executives who would know about any such matter – likes him or wants to talk to him,” they added.

Another source at the newspaper said of the supposed arrangement: “No such deal was done with Starmer. It simply did not happen. It is a complete fantasy.”

The endorsement of Wootton’s claims by MacKenzie – who has been repeatedly critical of the newspaper’s current management – generated many dozens of replies alleging a “conspiracy” or “blackmail” by the title.

An investigation by this newspaper last month revealed that Victoria Newton had overseen the suppression of major public interest stories about household names in return for favours. 

Another source suggested to Byline Times that ‘bad blood’ rooted in Wootton’s 2021 departure from The Sun – of which he was seen as a potential future editor – was behind his claims of a Starmer conspiracy.

“Wootton’s always blamed Victoria Newton for his departure from The Sun,” they said. “Most of us here see it as a typically ham-fisted revenge attempt from a man who spent a lot of his time when he worked here bullying his colleagues and trying to catfish them.

“Dan Wootton is despised at The Sun for what he did to people. He has vendettas against anyone who stood up to him. It is very much personal.”

Wootton claimed that the ‘deal’ also “infuriated” veteran journalists who have “never forgotten” that Starmer had pursued phone-hacking allegations when he was the DPP between 2008 and 2013.

But a third source poured scorn on the suggestion that a ‘deal’ would even have been possible.

The insider said: “It’s fanciful thinking. Keir Starmer is more than just an experienced lawyer – he was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). There is hardly anyone less likely to want to do a backroom deal with a tabloid on a matter of privacy.”

Last year, Byline Times revealed how Wootton – who had been the subject of widespread bullying and sexual harassment claims from Sun colleagues, but was promoted by the newspaper as complainants were silenced with large pay-offs and non-disclosure agreements – had been axed by Newton in early 2021.

The Sun gave what was seen as a half-hearted backing to Labour on the morning of the 4 July General Election.

“That was an obvious betrayal to the publication’s anti-woke, working-class readership,” Wootton claimed on his vlog.

“What I can’t stand most is the corrupt and captured MSM [mainstream media] taking their readers and viewers for fools by constantly concealing information for political reasons,” he wrote. “With an MSM that is controlled by billionaire and shady interests, they will never put you first.”

It is understood that the Prime Minister’s office has strongly denied any claim of the alleged ‘deal’.

News UK and Dan Wootton did not respond to requests for comment.