Rupert Murdoch arrives in Scotland as speculation grows The Sun will declare for YES in Scottish Referendum
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has arrived in Scotland ahead of the country's independence referendum, apparently with the intention of backing Alex Salmond and the Yes campaign.
While senior politicians from Westminster within the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties descended on Scotland in an attempt to promote the Better Together campaign, Murdoch, who owns the Sun, is reportedly considering demanding that his red top title back the independence campaign.
With less than a week to go and the polls showing that both campaigns are neck and neck, such a decision by Murdoch will be a major blow to the Better Together campaign, should the Sun openly back Scottish independence.
Pictures of Murdoch have appeared on Twitter of him in both Glasgow and Aberdeen on Saturday 13 September, while STV reporters have claimed that he said that he was considering back the Yes campaign.
In Sloans to sort the wedding reception and who do we see?..@rupertmurdoch #random pic.twitter.com/GVZ7AVKgQP
— Karen Barlow (@MissKazzieB) September 13, 2014
Rupert Murdoch tells @STVNews that the Sun newspaper is considering backing a Yes vote. #indyref #ScotDecides — Joanne Bonnar (@STVJoanne) September 13, 2014
At a press conference earlier today, Salmond denied that he had any plans to meet with Murdoch before the day of the referendum.
Earlier this week, tweets by Murdoch hinted that he believed Scotland should go it alone from the rest of Britain.
It has been suggested that Murdoch's decision might be a gamble, and could alienate many of the newspaper's readership in England, however this was dismissed by John Robertson, professor of media politics at the University of West Scotland, who thought Murdoch may have landed simply to "unnerve Westminster."
Of the potential impact backing the Yes campaign could have on the Sun, he added: "I doubt if English Sun readers would be much affected in their subsequent choices of what to buy".
At the time of writing, a spokesperson for News UK told The Drum: "We never comment on the movements of our senior executives."