The Sun trumpeted “It’s the Sun Wot Won It” after the Conservatives won the 1992 general election following the newspaper’s polling day headline “If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights”.

Five years later, Britain’s top-selling daily newspaper switched sides and backed Tony Blair and Labour at the next general election, remaining loyal to the centre-left party at the 2001 and 2005 elections.

But the tabloid has now flipped its allegiances and plans to support the Tories and David Cameron proclaiming on its front page on Wednesday that “Labour’s Lost it”.

“The Sun believes — and prays — that the Conservative leadership can put the great back into Great Britain,” wrote the paper, dedicating five pages to explain its decision, even moving its traditional page-three topless girl back to page seven.

With Brown even lagging the Liberal Democrats in the latest opinion polls, the Sun’s thumbs-down was another kick in the teeth for the beleaguered Prime Minister, just a day after he delivered a keynote speech to the Labour Party conference.

In a round of interviews on Wednesday, Brown put a brave face on the Sun’s thumbs-down, insisting: “The British people will decide the election, not a newspaper”.

The Sun is read by nearly three million people, but in an age where people increasingly get their news from rolling television news programmes and the Internet, is the tabloid’s decision a fatal blow for Gordon Brown’s political chances in next year’s general election?

The online release of MPs’ expense claims has only served to further dent their already battered reputation.

Forty-two days after the Daily Telegraph began to investigate MPs’ expenses the Houses of Parliament finally got round to publishing official details of them. Or rather it didn’t, as lots of key information was blacked out.

Britain’s newspapers spelt out their condemnation - in black and white - of this supposed exercise in freedom of information.

The Sun labelled MPs “Blankers”, the Daily Mirror led with the headline: “Blackwash”, while the Daily Mail posed the question: “Just how stupid do they think we are?”

Commons officials insisted that the information that had been blacked out was done to protect MPs’ security, but the consensus of Britain’s media was that the political classes had shot themselves in the foot.

“Yesterday’s exercise in obfuscation suggested the House of Commons has learnt nothing,” opined the Daily Telegraph’s editorial, with the paper promising to publish an uncensored version of every MP’s expense claim on Saturday.

“The Portcullis House edition of the dossier does not so much slam the door behind a bolted stallion as painstakingly construct a new stable in order to house a dead nag,” wrote the Guardian.

The farce was meat and drink to cartoonists. The Guardian’s Steve Bell captioned his cartoon with the statement: “Justice must not only not be done, it must not be seen to not be done.”

Even advertisers got in on the fun with a Volkswagen advert having most of its words crossed out.

Lest your mood has been overly blackened, remember that at least we have learnt a new word from this very British political scandal. Hands up who knew what the word “redacted” - to make ready for publication; edit or revise - meant 42 days ago?

The question is now how are MPs going to redact their reputations?

“Brave” was how most of the British press responded to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech to both houses of Congress in Washington.

Brown was the first European leader to be invited to Washington by the new U.S. administration and was only the fifth British prime minister to speak to a joint session of Congress.

The front pages of the broadsheets were dominated with the speech and leader writers agonised on whether the so-called special relationship between the two countries is still intact.

With an eye on the upcoming G20 meeting of leading nations in London on April 2, Brown called for the U.S. and their European allies to work together through the global economic crisis.

He was praised for his warning against protectionism and his “passionate” plea on tackling poverty in Africa.

It was a speech where Brown “rose to the occasion”, Peter Hyman, former speechwriter to ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrote in the The Guardian.

“Yesterday, Brown didn’t just give us substance but a little style too.”

It had “passion”, Kafka and even a reference to a Puritan founder of New England, the paper said.

“The speech was delivered with passion and was full of good lines; even a bit of poetry,” Hyman added.

“To this audience, religious rhetoric, like manna from heaven, is scooped up with open arms. And Brown didn’t hold back, Biblical soundbites flowed.”

The broadsheet Daily Telegraph said: “Gordon Brown … found eloquent and moving words to describe this country’s unique relationship with the United States and capture the common purpose of the wars we have fought together.

“More important, he found brave words when he tackled head-on the protectionist instincts that are so powerful in the United States and which could hamper the world’s economic recovery.”

The Daily Mail’s leader described it as a “serious and sombre speech for serious and sombre times”.

“Mr Brown merits praise for refusing to pull his punches (unlike his predecessor, whose idea of the special relationship was to fawn on American presidents).

“…If the special relationship is to mean anything, it must be based on honesty and not platitudes.”

But The Guardian leader was critical, saying the speech was limited and full of flattery.

“A brave speechmaker challenges his audience and a cautious one flatters them. Gordon Brown spoke to Congress yesterday with all the daring of a lover clutching a bunch of slightly wilted flowers.

“He said very little that was new, and nothing that was shocking.

“…Perhaps respect encouraged him to be too cautious, when a more critical friend would have been blunter.

“He passage on protectionism pulled its punches. He did not blame America for the crash, as he so often does at home.”

The tabloid Sun newspaper questioned the extent of the special relationship, pointing out that while Brown received 19 standing ovations, Congress was depleted.

“While Congress was packed, it was not with politicians,” the paper’s political editor George Pascoe-Watson wrote in an opinion piece.

“There were many ’staffers’ and interns taking up seats. Gone are the days when a British PM was such a star draw that Tony Blair was cheered as he walked through US hotel lobbies.

“Mr Brown left America last night with a vastly different Special Relationship.

“A new President has taken over - and it is hard to claim he and the PM have an obvious chemistry.

“President Obama paid lip service to the bonds between America and Britain. Things are definitely not what they used to be.”

But the International Herald Tribune said the chamber “was nearly full”, adding the interns “who are sometimes summoned to fill empty seats on such occasions were relatively few in number”.

While the visit dominated the British press, papers in the U.S. were less obsessed. They did look at the special relationship, suggesting it had cooled.

“The address came a day after President Obama assured Mr. Brown that the “special relationship” between the countries was as strong as ever, despite what some people have described as coolness in the handling of the prime minister’s visit,” the New York Times wrote.

The Internatational Herald Tribune referred to the same coolness, harking back to the close bond between former leaders George W. Bush and Blair.

“Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have catalogued a number of signs that the reception accorded to Brown in Washington was not quite as warm as the ones British prime ministers enjoyed during the Bush years: No invitation to Camp David, no full-scale news conference, no state dinner - and while there was a meeting between the men’s wives, none was held between the two couples.”

But as the Daily Mail pointed out, Brown was still pleased to have beaten French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Barack Obama’s door.

Brown could not hide “his satisfaction” at becoming the first European leader invited by Barack Obama, it reported the French financial daily La Tribune as quoting a Washington source as saying.

• You know exactly what the population of Iceland is and can also pronounce the name of its prime minister.
• Even the word ‘crisis’ seems to have lost its currency.
• Countries pop up for sale on eBay for 99p and get few offers.
• Posters on BBC messageboards stop discussing the undulating pitch of Robert Peston’s voice and listen to what he’s actually saying.
• The speech bubble on Page 3 of the Sun is given over to discussing the credit crisis.
• Financial market updates displace stories about Jade Goody on the tabloid front pages.
• Bad news stories from government departments are rushed out day after day and not even the Opposition seems to notice.
• Estate agents finally admit house prices have fallen but tell you now is a really great time to buy because the market is stabilising.
• People marketing get-rich-quick property seminars don’t get taken seriously any more.
• The Chancellor, writing in the Financial Times, says that “now, more than ever, we need new ideas”.
• Your primary school-aged children know that credit crunch is not a type of biscuit and that IMF isn’t just a fictional organisation in Mission Impossible.
• You go for a while without noticing one estate agent’s mini and then you see a whole bunch of them on the back of a car transporter.
• A pensioner on the evening tube train from Canary Wharf gives up her seat to a banker because she reckons he might need it.
• The Ivy rings to ask if you’d like a table tonight or any night.
• There are no spare trolleys when you turn up at Aldi to do your weekly shop.

Do you have any better suggestions? All contributions welcome - please send in your selection.

Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie has scored the first own goal of the Haltemprice & Howden by-election, just hours after saying he was a likely candidate for the Humberside seat.

In off-camera comments broadcast by BBC television he described Hull as “an absolute shocker, it’s beyond shock, actually.”

Asked by the BBC to explain, MacKenzie dismissed his comments as a “joke” and said he had never actually been to the port city, whose western suburbs fall within the constituency’s boundaries

The by-election was triggered by former Conservative Shadow Home Secretary David Davis on Thursday, who will defend his 5,000 majority on the single issue of opposing government plans to extend pre-charge detention for terrorism suspects to 42 days.

With the Liberal Democrats and Labour likely to stay away from the contest, we can look forward to further foot-in-mouth moments from the outspoken MacKenzie — the Guardian has helpfully listed some of his memorable bon mots.

That is, as long as MacKenzie doesn’t announce that talk of his candidature was itself just a joke.

The papers are nearly all agreed that Chancellor Alistair Darling’s 2.7 billion pound fix for the 10p tax row is the day’s main story.

“Darling seeks end to 10p tax backlash” reports the Financial Times, noting that the move will still leave 1.1 million poorer households worse off following the abolition of the lowest tax band in last year’s budget.

For the Daily Mail the tax giveaway is a “2.7 billion pound gamble” to appease fury on the Labour backbenches over the scrapping of the 10p starting rate.

But the papers also find room for other stories: Drivers face a 185 pound tax to park at work, says the Daily Telegraph of a government push to cut traffic congestion. The paper reports that Nottingham city council will be the first to introduce the “workplace parking levy as an alternative to road pricing.

The Sun reports that Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe is making a legal bid for freedom from the secure Broadmoor hospital, claiming his human rights have been breached. It says Sutcliffe, jailed in 1981 for killing 13 women, wants to be declared sane and given a release date.

The Independent opts for an analytic lead, suggesting that “Britain could once again be haunted by the spectre of stagflation“. It says a combination of stagnant output and high inflation not seen for decades will dog policymakers for months if not years to come.

By contrast the Daily Express says there is “Now a race to cut prices“, reporting that supermarkets Asda and Tesco and mortgage lender Nationwide have all unveiled plans for a host of cost-cutting deals to help “Britain’s hard-pressed families.”

The Times publishes a revealing photo of Housing Minster Caroline Flint — exposing her briefing notes on the state of the housing market as she walked to a cabinet meeting. “Safe as houses? Not this minister’s private papers” runs the headline over the picture. You can see a magnified image of the notes themselves on the front of the Telegraph.

The Guardian reports that Spain is being forced to ship drinking water to Barcelona to cope with the effects of the worst drought in the country since records began 60 years ago.

The Daily Mirror leads with the arrest of a 19-year-old man over the weekend murder of 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen in a southeast London bakers, while the Daily Star says police are following a reported sighting of missing Madeleine McCann on a flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The cost of living and falling house prices, school tests, knife crime and pictures from the Chinese earthquake feature in Tuesday’s headlines. 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abolish Tests for Pupils at 11 and 14, Urge MPs

MPs who say pupils are being drilled to pass exams to inflate schools’ positions in league tables rather than being encouraged to learn, are calling for some tests to be scrapped, the paper says. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: 415 pounds Jump in Energy Bills

The paper continues to say the cost of living is on the rise, this time pointing out that families face an increase in energy bills of 46 percent. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: Saint Jimmy

The paper quotes the mother of Jimmy Mizen, killed in an unprovoked attack in a London bakers, about how she believes her son will go to heaven. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: Thousands Die in China Quake

The paper describes how rescuers struggled to reach victims of the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people in central China and trapped thousands more in the rubble of collapsed schools, factories, hospitals and homes. Story here

THE TIMES: Elite Police Abandon Hunt for Crime Lords

The special police squad set up to take on the barons of organised crime has gone back to the drawing board after prosecuting only a handful of the 130 figures it aimed to bring to book, the paper says. Story here

THE SUN: Licence to Kill

The paper runs with a dramatic headline and picture of a bloodied knife left on a street after a man was stabbed to death in Oxford Street. The paper says it came hours after courts were told to let knife yobs off with a slap on the wrist. Story here

THE INDEPENDENT: Housing Market Worst for 30 Years

Confidence in Britain’s housing market has sunk to its lowest level for more than 30 years, as property prices continue to fall and mortgage lenders restrict home loan finance, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: Mounting Signs of Economic Slowdown

Poor economic figures revealed inflationary pressures are rising to levels not seen in nearly 20 years and new data due are expected to show important parts of the economy are stagnating. Story here 

DAILY MAIL: Now a Tax to Pay for Old Age

Every working family could face paying an “ageing tax” to provide care for the elderly, the prime minister proposed, the paper says. Story here

There were further potentially damaging revelations about Gordon Brown from within the Labour Party, claims about the rising cost of living, as well as coverage of Manchester United’s Premier League title win on Monday’s front pages.

DAILY EXPRESS: Family Tax Up 51 Percent

The tax burden has risen by 51 percent under Labour and the average family now pays a crippling 20,700 pounds a year, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: Banks’ Losses to Hit Public Finances

Losses suffered by the country’s largest banks as a result of the global credit turmoil will add further pressure on the public finances by cutting the amount of corporation tax paid by the financial services industry, the paper says. Story here 

THE INDEPENDENT: Strawberry Fields Forsaken

Millions of pounds worth of soft fruit and vegetables are likely to be left to rot in fields this summer because of a shortage of foreign pickers caused by the falling value of the pound and new restrictions on the number of seasonal labourers allowed to enter Britain, farmers’ leaders warned the paper. Story here

THE TIMES: Blair Used Wife’s Grief to Protect Iraq Strategy

The paper, which is covering Cherie Blair’s autobiography, tells how she was astonished by the ruthless manner in which her husband and Alastair Campbell made public within hours the fact that she had lost the baby she was carrying in 2002  in order that a delay in their holiday did not trigger false speculation of an early invasion of Iraq. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: MPs Set to Back New Embryo Research Laws

The paper contacted 109 MPs over new embryo research laws, and says MPs will reject demands for tighter controls on abortion but are ready to allow new laws pushing back the boundary of research on human embryo. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Labour in Turmoil as Levy Warns Brown

There was no let up for Gordon Brown after a weekend of potentially damaging revelations. This time it was Tony Blair’s former fundraiser Lord Levy who said Brown should consider his position as prime minster after a series of disastrous poll results. Story here

THE SUN: Cherie: My Lost Baby

The paper also covers Cherie Blair’s heartbreak at the loss of her baby in a miscarriage. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: How Much Did She Know

The paper continues to ask how much the wife of Josef Fritzl knew about the cellar in which he kept his daughter and where he fathered seven children. Story here

DAILY MAIL: Food Inflation Soars to 19 Percent

The paper also looks at the cost of living, saying millions of families are having to spend almost 1,000 pounds a year extra on food after more punishing price rises. Story here

Abortion, Ant and Dec’s award - that wasn’t, and the confessions of the Austrian cellar man dominate the front pages of Friday’s papers.

THE INDEPENDENT: Abortion; the Battle Lines Are Drawn

The paper uses just three lines of text and three pictures for its main story about survival rates of premature babies and its significance in the abortion debate. Story here

THE TIMES: Drivers in Worse Jam as Traffic Plan Fails

The paper says motorists are wasting more time sitting in queues on motorways and A-roads because the government has failed to meet its key three-year target for reducing congestion. Story here

THE SUN: Hitler Made Me Do It

The man at the centre of the Austrian cell scandal has blamed his tyrannical rapist behaviour on his growing up under Adolf Hitler’s Nazis, the paper says - using a photo of Fritzl interposed on an image of Hitler. Story here 

DAILY MIRROR: I Confess

More confessions by Fritzl dominate the front page. Story here

DAILY MAIL: Can You Believe a Thing You See on ITV?

The paper asks the provocative question after the commercial TV channel was fined a record amount by the regulator Ofcom after the extent of its phone-in scandal was exposed in two reports. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hospital Services Face Axe in NHS Shake-Up

Scores of hospital departments such as maternity units and cancer clinics will be closed or merged across the country under plans for a radical shake-up of the NHS, the paper says. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: Banks in Current Accounts Rip-Off

Banks were criticised for ramping up fees on current accounts as fears grow that the days of free banking are numbered, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: EDF Snaps up “Nuclear” Land

Europe’s biggest power company has been quietly buying land around nuclear sites in England and Wales, the paper says, putting itself in a position to build power stations even if it fails in its attempt to buy British energy, the nuclear generator. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: New Research on Baby Survival Rates Stokes Abortion Limit Row

Survival rates for babies born before 24 weeks are extremely low and getting no better in spite of medical advances, the paper quotes an authoritative study as saying. Story here

The latest initiative to tackle anti-social behaviour and an apparent loophole in airport security feature prominently on Thursday’s front pages, along with the Chelsea gun siege and the Austrian house of horrors.

The Guardian says Home Secretary Jacqui Smith  wants police to harass anti-social youths and make life as unpleasant for them as they do for their victims. Young thugs should be hounded and filmed.  Story here

The Daily Telegraph is among several newspapers to pick up a BBC 2 “Newsnight” expose that foreign employees working in sensitive airport locations are not having their criminal records checked because of the time and effort that would involve. Story here 

The Daily Mail features a picture of the wife of the Chelsea siege gunman looking on in horror during the standoff and runs the story under the headline: “I Love My Wife Dearly” — the message the paper says he threw out of a window before his death. Story here

A report that suggests Britain wastes around 10 billion pounds worth of food a year is the subject of The Independent front page. The paper says most of the waste is made up of entirely untouched food products. Story here

The Sun splashes what it says is the last picture of Elisabeth Fritzl before she was imprisoned for 24 years in a cellar by her father. Story here, while the Daily Mirror leads on the father’s insistence that he is not a monster because at least he did not kill his daughter and the children he fathered with her. Story here

The Times carries allegations from an Iraqi cleaner and two cooks that a culture of sexual harassment, abuse and bullying exists at the British embassy in Baghdad. Story here

The prospect of household energy bills rising up to 40 percent this Winter as oil prices continue to go up is the lead story in the Daily Express. Story here 

The Financial Times meanwhile concentrates on the link-up between Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy of the U.S. Story here