Gordon Brown on Strictly Come Dancing?
By Scott Emslie
Monday 28th September 2009
Monday 28th September 2009
Ken Clarke wallowing in a jungle, devouring insects and other more unsavoury foodstuffs?
You may find these images immensely entertaining, but politicians seem to be devoting more and more of their time to popular media, with an emphasis on television. However, is this fascination with every televisual zeitgeist beneficial in a representative democracy, or is it a sign of dissociation between what MPs think the voters want and what they actually desire?
The propaganda possibilities of television for a political candidate are, without a doubt, some of the most potent that have ever been seen in modern history; it is said, after all, the current London Mayor Boris Johnson owes most, if not all, his success to the popular news quiz “Have I Got News For You”. This program, in which Boris managed to make himself, with the help of the other panellists, look a complete buffoon in front of the nation, assisted a relatively unknown MP to shoot up into the higher echelons of civil government in London, simply by rambling inanely about hedgehog tunnels and handing out coconuts. If anyone who doubts the influence this programme had on the career of Mr Johnson, they should be referred to the several political scandals which would have brought down any other politician, ranging from extramarital affairs to insulting a whole city to racist comments such as “watermelon smiles”, and then reminded of the political power he now holds.
With the acceptance of the power of popular media as a tool for gaining political influence, we can easily understand the desperate pandering of politicians to the current media darlings of the time; we have seen Harriet Harman comment on “Strictly Come Dancing”, Gordon Brown comment on a “Britain's Got Talent” contestant and David Cameron comment on the recent death of Michael Jackson. However harmless this may seem on the outside, it appears that the job of MP is being adulterated by the apparent need for MPs to comment on such issues; it drags focus away from the important issues of government as can be, disturbingly, seen in how Gordon Brown took time out from leading the country to comment on the health of a transient star during the worst recession of his party's governance of the country, while still mired in an seemingly-Pyrrhic war, at a time when his Premiership was the most unstable it had yet been.
It perhaps cannot be said strongly enough: politicians should not focus nor even comment upon television programmes. The public elect representatives to take their views and concerns to national government, but with this duty comes an equally important responsibility to use common sense to sift out the irrelevant issues. In our increasingly media-friendly system of governance, it needs to be realised that a simple “No comment” or “I’m an MP, not a TV critic; it’s not my place to comment” is not electoral suicide. More would applaud such honest sentiments than would deplore a lack of ersatz sympathy for passing D-list stars. When election time rolls round, voters often make the wrong decision when choosing between the box on the voting slip and the box in their house. Let’s hope our MPs can distinguish the difference between the two.
You may find these images immensely entertaining, but politicians seem to be devoting more and more of their time to popular media, with an emphasis on television. However, is this fascination with every televisual zeitgeist beneficial in a representative democracy, or is it a sign of dissociation between what MPs think the voters want and what they actually desire?
The propaganda possibilities of television for a political candidate are, without a doubt, some of the most potent that have ever been seen in modern history; it is said, after all, the current London Mayor Boris Johnson owes most, if not all, his success to the popular news quiz “Have I Got News For You”. This program, in which Boris managed to make himself, with the help of the other panellists, look a complete buffoon in front of the nation, assisted a relatively unknown MP to shoot up into the higher echelons of civil government in London, simply by rambling inanely about hedgehog tunnels and handing out coconuts. If anyone who doubts the influence this programme had on the career of Mr Johnson, they should be referred to the several political scandals which would have brought down any other politician, ranging from extramarital affairs to insulting a whole city to racist comments such as “watermelon smiles”, and then reminded of the political power he now holds.
With the acceptance of the power of popular media as a tool for gaining political influence, we can easily understand the desperate pandering of politicians to the current media darlings of the time; we have seen Harriet Harman comment on “Strictly Come Dancing”, Gordon Brown comment on a “Britain's Got Talent” contestant and David Cameron comment on the recent death of Michael Jackson. However harmless this may seem on the outside, it appears that the job of MP is being adulterated by the apparent need for MPs to comment on such issues; it drags focus away from the important issues of government as can be, disturbingly, seen in how Gordon Brown took time out from leading the country to comment on the health of a transient star during the worst recession of his party's governance of the country, while still mired in an seemingly-Pyrrhic war, at a time when his Premiership was the most unstable it had yet been.
It perhaps cannot be said strongly enough: politicians should not focus nor even comment upon television programmes. The public elect representatives to take their views and concerns to national government, but with this duty comes an equally important responsibility to use common sense to sift out the irrelevant issues. In our increasingly media-friendly system of governance, it needs to be realised that a simple “No comment” or “I’m an MP, not a TV critic; it’s not my place to comment” is not electoral suicide. More would applaud such honest sentiments than would deplore a lack of ersatz sympathy for passing D-list stars. When election time rolls round, voters often make the wrong decision when choosing between the box on the voting slip and the box in their house. Let’s hope our MPs can distinguish the difference between the two.
