The Sun that Paul joined was not the paper we know as the Sun today, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. This Sun was the renamed and about to be relaunched Daily Herald, which in the 1930s was jointly owned by the Trades Union Congress. It was then the country’s biggest-selling daily newspaper but by the 1960s its sales were in decline and its latest owners, the International Publishing Corporation, decided on the relaunch and the rename.

The first edition of the Sun appeared on 15 September 1964, just as the Conservative government had called a general election, a gift to this Labour-supporting paper and its Probe team which Paul had joined. Probe appeared twice a week, written by different journalists on a range of topics, and on day two of the new paper Paul had his first by-line over a piece about the candidates standing for election.

It was their coverage of the election in the constituency of Smethwick in Birmingham which stands out because it gave Paul the idea for his first book, Immigration and Race in British Politics (see Author section).

Paul stayed at Probe for just six months: he hated having to say Probe here when he answered the phone, but mainly he despaired of the politics of the column’s editor. When the newly elected Labour Government introduced a bill to end capital punishment, the team suggested a background feature. Their editor’s response was enthusiastic. How much does an execution cost? How much money would a ban save? The journalists’ enthusiasm turned to dismay and the entire team quit.