Daily Star

Originally a Manchester-produced red-top tabloid for the north of England, the Star was launched in 1978 - the first new national daily in the UK in nearly half a century - as a response from Express Newspapers to the rise of Rupert Murdoch's Sun. Like the Sun, it features topless girls on page 3 - the Star Babes. Unlike the Sun (and its own sister Express titles), it was a Labour Party supporter.

When it went national and introduced newspaper Bingo to the 1980s tabloid wars, it saw circulation rise to nearly two million (mainly at the expense of the Sun). Since the 1980s, it has had no detectable stance in UK politics, concentrating on celebrities, TV and sport.