"It is Thrown against me that I have a Castle": A portrait of newspaper coverage of the Central Southwark by-election, February 1940

The nomination of an anti-war candidate in the Central Southwark by-election of February 1940 confronted Britain's newspapers with a dilemma. How should the press in a democracy fighting totalitarianism balance its obligation to hold power to account and its duty to the national interest? At this stage of the phony war, editors who knew that by-elections could stimulate national debate privileged the interests of the state. They conflated establishment and public interest and limited discussion to ideas represented in orthodox parliamentary opinion. Content analysis reveals newspapers engaged in self-censorship on behalf of a war that had not yet generated popular enthusiasm.