Lights, Cameron, Action!

The ITV screening of the leaders debate changed Nick Clegg into an icon
overnight. ‘Clegg-mania’ is gripping the nation as we speak, uniting the
country for a brief and transient second, while we question whether a
British Obama has been born.

ITV has form in creating manias which grip the nation. “Subo mania” had
Britain hooked last year, with every citizen cheering on Susan Boyle, a
woman who nobody expected to take on the world with her catchy Les Mis
rendition.

Now it is the turn of politics to don a smear of lippy and sing its heart
out to the nation, hoping to win over our hearts and a cross on our voting
cards.

Okay, perhaps we took the metaphor too far, but the televised debates
raise an interesting question about the nature of political campaigning
and the ease at which a month’s door to door canvassing can be wiped out
through one and a half hours of political jousting on the telly.

Is it a good thing that the 2010 elections have come down to who has the
most witty reposte, who gets the timing right with one-liners, and who can
remember the names of the most audience members in the studio?

The British political system is about the parties, Parliament and the MPs,
innit? None of that presidential fandangle for us. We have a cabinet
government; what are the leaders of the parties doing up there, as if it
was all about them?

But for every woebegone campaigning MP who complains about how their job
has got harder since the debates, there is another one who bemoans the
lack of influence anyone outside the Prime Minister’s trusted clique has.
Under the Labour government, the power of the PM has increased enormously.
The term ‘sofa government’ has come to mean making unilateral decisions in
a darkened back room without consulting the rest of the people who, guess
what, were elected too.

The TV debates go straight to where the power lies. It is right that we
should become familiar with the people who make the decisions regardless
of how the rest of their parties feel.

We may decry the inordinate coverage the televised debates give the
leaders of the three main political parties, but let’s stop kidding
ourselves that we have the political system of old, with a cabinet
government who sits around making measured decisions the majority of the
time.

If the government wants to rule in a presidential manner, drowning out
backbench MPs and ‘rogue’ individuals who refuse to conform to the
government’s diktat, then to hell with it, let’s have a presidential-style
election.

So we say, bring on the bumper stickers saying, “VOTE CLEGG FOR PM 2010!”
Bring on the Gordon Brown action figures and David Cameron flavoured ice
cream. Actually, the last one is true. Ben and Jerry’s have just brought
out a ‘Cameron Chew Chew’ flavour in honour of the election. Just like
politicians to try to sweeten the deal, eh?