Gordon Brown goes into this election with only the backing of the Mirror among the national newspapers.

Yesterday in an interview in the Evening Standard he noted: “I’ve had a tough two years from the press. I’m not complaining because basically at the end of the day the people will make up their mind. A number of newspapers are trying to run the election, they are trying to dictate the election. I think they have made a mistake.”

In one sense Brown has a right to feel hard done by. In terms of standing up for the interests of journalists, he has had a pretty good record as Prime Minister.