MEDIA barons’ attempts to aid their Tory friends flopped yesterday when a bid to beat off Labour’s war on wealthy tax-avoiders collapsed.

Senior government figures cowered from the limelight to avoid scrutiny of their finances after millionaire party treasurer and donor Lord Fink suggested that “everyone does” tax avoidance.

But in an attempt to halt a relentless Labour assault, their press allies — tax-dodging billionaires the Barclay brothers and Viscount Rothermere — threw all the mud they could at leader Ed Miliband.