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Is breakfast TV the perfect training ground for politicians? Is breakfast TV the perfect training ground for politicians?
(about 3 hours later)
It is a question to rival Mrs Merton's famous inquiry of Debbie McGee: "What first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" What do political parties see in the telegenic, media-savvy, warmth-and-empathy-laden presenters of populist breakfast television shows with their huge, loyal followings among people who have neither the time nor the inclination to engage with politics, or vote for anything other than a face they recognise and associate with good times and somehow the uber-trustworthy face of Everyman's Everyman Phillip Schofield?It is a question to rival Mrs Merton's famous inquiry of Debbie McGee: "What first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" What do political parties see in the telegenic, media-savvy, warmth-and-empathy-laden presenters of populist breakfast television shows with their huge, loyal followings among people who have neither the time nor the inclination to engage with politics, or vote for anything other than a face they recognise and associate with good times and somehow the uber-trustworthy face of Everyman's Everyman Phillip Schofield?
Esther McVey, the minister for employment promoted to full member of the Cabinet in the recent reshuffle, is only the latest to have completed the journey from the morning sofa to the corridors of power. In the 1990s, she was a presenter of ITV's GMTV by day and – as a tsunami of pictures gleefully reprinted by the tabloids in the past few days attest – partying effortfully at night before eventually calling it quits and sloping off to the quieter world of party politics. Fellow GMTV alumna – one-time political editor Gloria de Piero – is already shadow minister for women. How former presenter Fiona Phillips must be kicking herself now for turning down Gordon Brown's offer to become part of his "government of all the talents" back in 2007. Esther McVey, the minister for employment promoted to full member of the Cabinet in the recent reshuffle, is only the latest to have completed the journey from the morning sofa to the corridors of power. In the 1990s, she was a presenter of ITV's GMTV by day and – as a tsunami of pictures gleefully reprinted by the tabloids in the past few days attest – partying effortfully at night before eventually calling it quits and sloping off to the quieter world of party politics. Fellow GMTV alumna – one-time political editor Gloria De Piero – is already shadow minister for women. How former presenter Fiona Phillips must be kicking herself now for turning down Gordon Brown's offer to become part of his "government of all the talents" back in 2007.
We wait on tenterhooks to find out whether Selina Scott, the 80s daytime pinup girl who is now rumoured to be contemplating standing as an MP in Yorkshire, perhaps when William Hague vacates his seat next year, will make the same mistake.We wait on tenterhooks to find out whether Selina Scott, the 80s daytime pinup girl who is now rumoured to be contemplating standing as an MP in Yorkshire, perhaps when William Hague vacates his seat next year, will make the same mistake.
And let us never forget, of course, the permatanned and literal lounge-lizard form of Robert Kilroy-Silk who slithered his way into our sitting rooms every morning, presenting talkshow Kilroy from 1986 to 2004. Nearly 20 years! Somehow, it seemed longer. He was also a Labour MP for Knowsley North and Ormskirk and in the mid-2000s went on to glory as a Ukip and independent MEP, as well as being the leader for five months in 2005 of Veritas, a party he formed after splitting with Ukip. It was cruelly dubbed "Vanitas" by the press because it appeared to be little more than a vessel in which to keep afloat an overflowing ego no longer contained by a daily morning talkshow voyaging round the fractured psyche of contemporary Britain.And let us never forget, of course, the permatanned and literal lounge-lizard form of Robert Kilroy-Silk who slithered his way into our sitting rooms every morning, presenting talkshow Kilroy from 1986 to 2004. Nearly 20 years! Somehow, it seemed longer. He was also a Labour MP for Knowsley North and Ormskirk and in the mid-2000s went on to glory as a Ukip and independent MEP, as well as being the leader for five months in 2005 of Veritas, a party he formed after splitting with Ukip. It was cruelly dubbed "Vanitas" by the press because it appeared to be little more than a vessel in which to keep afloat an overflowing ego no longer contained by a daily morning talkshow voyaging round the fractured psyche of contemporary Britain.
The undersecretary for defence personnel, Anna Soubry, was once a presenter of Granada's This Morning … The list is probably not endless, but it is beginning to feel as if it is, so let's stop here. Whether the recruitment of presenters by political parties will do likewise is impossible to say. The need of contemporary politicians to import the common touch grows greater by the day. The average television star's hunger for real power – or, for the less cynical, hunger to do real good – in the world is not a thing often assuaged. Let us hope that one day it will indeed end in us being led by Fern (not Holly, never Holly) and Phillip into an Elysium doubtless full of peace, contentment and diverting phone-ins. Happy days.The undersecretary for defence personnel, Anna Soubry, was once a presenter of Granada's This Morning … The list is probably not endless, but it is beginning to feel as if it is, so let's stop here. Whether the recruitment of presenters by political parties will do likewise is impossible to say. The need of contemporary politicians to import the common touch grows greater by the day. The average television star's hunger for real power – or, for the less cynical, hunger to do real good – in the world is not a thing often assuaged. Let us hope that one day it will indeed end in us being led by Fern (not Holly, never Holly) and Phillip into an Elysium doubtless full of peace, contentment and diverting phone-ins. Happy days.