Why the DamaSun conversion?

While this blogger doesn't normally pay much attention to the political allegiances of the newspapers, of particular interest recently has been the Scottish Sun's apparent Damascene conversion to the SNP cause.

While I don't habitually read the newspaper, and it doesn't actually seemed to have formally declared its support just yet, the accepted wisdom seems to be that its coverage has been supportive of Alex Salmond and his party, while as an obvious corollary it has put the boot into Iain Gray and Labour in a manner that only the Sun can manage.

Of course, this is particularly noteworthy in view of the paper's notorious 'Vote SNP and put Scotland's head in the noose' front page in 2007, which was itself reminiscent of its UK-wide anti-Labour/Neil Kinnock splash on the eve of the UK general election almost two decades ago.

So why? Well to a large extent the SNP's first term has been eminently predictable; Scotland hasn't fallen into the sea, but the heather hasn't been set alight either. Hence this surely can't explain the change. Or is it perhaps the Labour/Iain Gray factor? Well this is perhaps a more plausible explanation than a more positive one, but is the party and its leader really that much worse than Jack McConnell and his team in 2007?

Well perhaps the Sun will eventually provide a rationale for its stance. And no doubt others more knowledgeable than myself could provide a plethora of facts and theories, however compelling or contrived.

However, what's of particular interest in this regard is the explanation provided by the Sun's bitter rival the Daily Record, which of course is the Scottish Labour equivalent of the Torygraph as regards the perception of being associated with a particular party. The Record's rationale goes something like this: Ed Milliband wants a Labour Holyrood victory as a stepping stone to control of Westminster. Thus David Cameron wants to give Milliband a bloody nose. Cameron can tell the Sun what to do. So the Sun is told to get behind the SNP. Alex Salmond is thus pulling his punches regarding the Westminster coalition, and that's also why he and Annabel Goldie appear to be having an extra-marital affair (as a political metaphor, of course!).

Oh aye?!? And this isn't some swivel-eyed anonymous Labourite blogger, this is from a Daily Record leader column and its political editor Magnus Gardham. As conspiracy theories go it's a cracker, but of course the truth is often stranger than conspiracy theories.

But whatever the truth, News International and the SNP as bedfellows certainly makes for an interesting spectacle. However, as the Brian Souter factor demonstrates, Salmond & Co certainly don't seem fussy about whose shilling they take or who they cosy up to if it equates to success at the ballot box. But perhaps the great unanswered question is this: will Iain Gray get the Kinnock treatment?

Answers by voicemail to Rupert Murdoch, please.