ITV is leading the way during this election campaign, producing many of the moments that have defined the contest. Talk to people at the broadcaster and they will tell you it is more confident than the BBC, thanks to a scrappier commercial mindset; it has fewer resources so has to punch harder.
But it is also free of the BBC’s paralysing knowledge that every editorial decision will be scrutinised by rightwing media outlets – and a government that would like to abolish the licence fee. As a result, even in an era when live TV ratings are in steep decline, the channel has succeeded in capturing (and provoking) some of the growing public anger against the Conservative government.
Here are a few of its big hits during (and in the run-up to) the campaign:
1. Sunak’s D-day interview
What has become one of the defining stories of the campaign landed in ITV’s lap by accident. The broadcaster had asked Rishi Sunak’s team to take part in a series of pre-recorded sit-down interviews that they are conducting with the major party leaders.
With the interview scheduled for broadcast on Wednesday 12 June, the recording could have taken place at any time beforehand. Instead, Sunak’s team said the prime minister would be made available on the afternoon of the D-day commemorations in Normandy, Thursday 6 June.
Sunak’s absence from some of the D-day events had been noticed by the media but it wasn’t clear why he had been replaced by the foreign secretary, David Cameron, for some of the appearances.
Some Conservative commentators publicly wondered if there had been a family incident or an emergency that had prompted Sunak to go home early.
But it was ITV’s decision to release a short clip about tax from the interview – which was not due to be broadcast for another week – which enabled people to put two and two together and realise the prime minister had returned home to campaign.
Interviewer Paul Brand told the channel’s evening news bulletin: “Today was the slot that we were offered, we don’t know why. Obviously it’s not our choice, but he certainly returned from Normandy ready to dive back into the campaign.”
2. The release of the Sunak interview
ITV’s decision to stick to the original broadcast date for the interview meant that it has been able to drip-feed it out over the course of the past week.
On Wednesday morning, ITV released another clip where Sunak talks about not having Sky TV as a child, as well as an awkward exchange about D-day as he entered the room and sat down.
Downing Street is said to be furious that the footage of Sunak sitting down and talking about D-day was included in the broadcast – although it is doubtful that anyone realised at the time how notable that small talk would be.
While the BBC website has an enormous audience regularly checking its homepage, ITV has struggled to build the same audience. Instead, its online strength has been in clipping up television moments that go viral elsewhere.
3. Mr Bates vs The Post Office
ITV’s reputation for topical dramas made it the natural home for the Toby Jones-fronted dramatisation of the Horizon IT scandal. News outlets had been reporting on the Post Office miscarriages of justice for decades and there was an ongoing public inquiry. But it was the release of the ITV four-part series – broadcast during a quiet news period early in the new year – which pushed the scandal on to the front pages, as it pulled in 11 million viewers an episode.
Sensing the public fury after the ITV drama, Sunak moved quickly to announce new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers.
4. Partygate
The scandal that brought down Boris Johnson, and precipitated the calamitous premiership of Liz Truss, paved the way for Sunak’s elevation. It was initiated at the Mirror but conducted alongside ITV – which consistently beat the BBC and obtained key videos which led to the downfall of Boris Johnson.
The scandal left Sunak with a fixed-penalty notice, and at the helm of a party with a toxic brand.
5. Loose Women
If you wanted a clear sign that Sunak’s campaign had the potential to go badly wrong, you only had to watch his appearance last month on ITV’s long-running daytime show Loose Women. Ironically, it was Sunak’s policies towards pensioners – a group that have in many respects done better than others from Tory governments – that earned him a dressing-down from Janet Street-Porter.
ITV is particularly influential in many of the northern “red wall” seats that the Tories won for the first time in the 2019 general election – and losing Loose Women was an indicator that not all was well.
• This article was amended on 26 June 2024. An earlier version said that after the TV drama Sunak moved quickly to increase the compensation for affected post office operators. In fact Sunak announced new legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted Post Office branch managers.
