Most people did not share the malevolence demonstrated by The Sun. Its story of the Prime Minister’s allegedly shoddy handwritten letter of condolence to a grief-stricken mother of another tragic victim of the war in Afghanistan, written up as a further onslaught on Gordon Brown, backfired.

The Sun’s lack of balance in a piece about the Prime Minister attempting to do the right thing by writing personally to bereaved parents, and its lack of humanity towards someone that had lost his sight in one eye, was not lost on many.

This might stay The Sun’s hand for while, but not for long. The Murdochs (Rupert and son James) have calculated that a David Cameron-led Conservative government will deliver exactly what News Corporation wants. The Sun’s editor may be ordered to tone down the most strident absue, but the Prime Minister is deluding himself if he thinks any friendship with Rupert Murdoch will trump the latter’s business interests.

Ever since the 1970s, as the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom argued in a recent policy document: “The relentless, deregulatory, free-market ideology of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire has

been damaging and distorting UK media (and politics)”.

The Tory leader had already indicated that he was ready to do News Corporation’s bidding even before The Sun, on the day of Brown’s speech to the Labour conference, splashed its decision to support the Conservatives on its front page.

It is not coincidence that Ofcom’s investigation into the pay-television market found that Sky (owned by Murdoch) had a monopolistic control. It has the rights to 80 per cent of Premier League football matches and Murdoch’s hold over Hollywood movies also prevents others from entering the market. As the regulatory body, Ofcom proposed to cap the cost of Sky’s premium sport and movie channels, potentially making them available on a wider range of platforms and meaning Sky might have to slash its prices by 30 per cent.

Riding to the rescue, Cameron pledged that a future Conservative would restrict Ofcom to a narrow technical enforcement role, stripping it of its policymaking remit and allowing it only to regulate “lightly”.

Now the Murdochs have suffered a double whammy with the recommendation that the home Ashes tests against Australia and all international football qualifiers involving England should be added to the list of live events reserved for broadcast on free-to-air TV.

These are national events and everyone should have right to enjoy them. The principle of public service broadcasting has been protected. There will be much gnashing of teeth in Wapping. The temptation to unleash the vitriol will not be resisted.

With a general election just six months away the Conservatives and News Corporation will continue to act in tandem. On Europe, the Eurosceptic Cameron and Murdoch will speak with the same voice. The Tories are already salivating about the prospect of taking an axe to public spending and the TV licence fee is under threat. In a further move against the BBC, Tory culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt has announced that its charter will be “ripped up”.

Murdoch wants to make money out of the internet and intends to start charging for online content. The BBC, which has excellent website facilities, is regarded as a hindrance, so he wants to cut it down to size.

In the past, Murdoch has been prepared to rein in his ideological inclinations and conform to state-imposed mpartiality rules in order to gain regulatory favours. If Cameron is in Number 10 Downing Street, that might not be necessary

Those in Conservative Central Office cannot wait to get their hands on the cultural levers. A discussion document entitled Plurality in a New Media Age: the Future of Public Service Broadcasting, states: “Maintaining the plurality of provision in news is the most important way to ensure balance in the supply of news. The BBC is probably the strongest news gathering operation in the world – but we must not become dependent on it.

“Impartiality should remain a central public service obligation on public service broadcasters. However, impartiality requirements should be relaxed for broadcasters not receiving public funds or spectrum subsidies.”

The document distorts the difference between partisan print and impartial broadcasting. “In the US, where there is no impartiality requirement on broadcasters, the market has evolved along similar lines to the UK newspaper market. As the Daily Telegraph caters for a right of centre readership, so Fox News caters for right of centre viewers. As The Guardian caters for a more liberal readership in the UK, so CNN addresses a more liberal audience in the US. Why do we want to be different in the UK?”

If this becomes policy of a Tory government, it will open the way for a British version of the rabidly right-wing Fox News.

Gordon Brown should brace himself. Opprobrium is going to be poured on his head by Rupert Murdoch’s minions until the election. Labour under Tony Blair chose to try to appease him. As Lance Price, a former director of communications, recalled in his memoirs: “Murdoch seemed like the 24th member of the Cabinet. His voice was rarely heard but his presence was always felt.”

As political fortunes have changed, so James Murdoch has made the same calculations as his father. A lot of people may be currently feeling sorry for the Prime Minister. As the stakes could not higher, such sentiments will be in short supply in News Corporation.