Mirror breaks ban to take mickey out of Cameron

The Daily Mirror has today broken a copyright ban to use the notorious photograph of David Cameron, Boris Johnson and other members of the 1986 Bullingdon all-male dining club on its election day front page, in order to ask its readers whether Cameron is the right man to be the next Prime Minister
 
"PRIME MINISTER? REALLY?" asks the front page headline of the only mainstream newspaper to back the Labour party today.

The photo was last seen in 2008, when the Daily Telegraph published it on the front page. It showed the undergraduates "oozing Oxbridge privilege from every pore" as The First Post put it at the time.

Amid fears at Conservative party headquarters that it might be used in future Labour campaign posters, it was quickly withdrawn from circulation with a claim that the copyright belonged to the Oxford-based photography company, Gilbert and Soame.

Since the Telegraph last used it, some media outlets, including The First Post, have commissioned artists' representations of the photograph, but until today no one has risked republishing the photo itself.
 
Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace decided to risk the ire of the copyright owner and of the Tories, claiming its use is in the public interest. "This picture was, and is, in the public domain and its publication is absolutely in the public interest and will help inform voters' decisions before they cast their vote," he said.
 
The photo has clearly been a source of embarrassment to Cameron, if not to London Mayor Boris Johnson who is far less embarrassed by his "toff" background.

Another man who has reason to look at the photo twice is Jonathan Ford, who is sitting at Cameron's feet. His presence in the photograph was not significant when it was published in 2008. But it is now – because in January this year Ford became the chief leader writer of the Financial Times. And for the first general election since 1987, the FT is urging its readers to vote Tory today, not Labour.

With the Guardian, the Times and the Sun also giving up on Labour – the former going for the Lib Dems while Murdoch's papers have switched allegiance to Cameron – and the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Daily Express going for the Tories as always, the Labour party needs all the help it can get on the news-stands. Hence the Mirror's brazen decision. ·