It seems that quite a lot of candidates don’t like getting too close to voters.
It seems that quite a lot of candidates don’t like getting too close to voters. To me, the revealing thing about Gordon Brown’s little brush with Gillian Duffy five years ago were the words “…they should never have put me with that woman”.
But it is only through dealing with people in what might be termed ‘the raw’ that we get some insight into a politician’s character. There have been far too many stage managed and carefully choreographed encounters with ‘ordinary’ and ‘hard-working people’ during this election campaign. The artificiality of these events is generally toe-curling. I really don’t care if I never again see either a Prime Minister or a Chancellor in a lem-sip jacket and a hard hat, pretending to understand and respect a backdrop of press-ganged, sullen-faced workers. Watch a politician caught in a situation un which they fear a voter will tackle them and where they may have no control and no minders to deflect the problem. See their entourage form a protective huddle around them on railway stations or in those unscripted moments where a ‘real’ person might put them on the spot. See a fearful and anxious man (they are predominately male).
Then there are the rallies – controlled by security guards and consisting of a relatively small number of supporters doughnutting the leader (who is probably doing a pumped-up act) in one corner of a vast warehouse which is 90 per cent empty.
We have reached an absurd situation where too many politicians, terrified of giving hostages to fortune, can only cope with approval and meaninglessly bland exchanges. One of the reasons for Ed Miliband’s growing popularity is his readiness to talk to anyone and to listen carefully. The Russell Brand venture was high risk, but against all the odds, it actually came off. David Cameron, on the other hand, will not even take the risk of going head to head in debate with the only other politician who can be Prime Minister.
It happens at the local level too. Leaflets from the all candidates have now (on the eve of the election) come through my letter box (three from the Liberal Democrat, which is two too many – eager beavers are a little embarrassing and repetition is tedious in this context) but not one of the candidates or their teams have been to the doorstep. At the hustings which I attended, it was noticeable that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat only mixed with their own supporters at the end, while both Green and Labour candidates wandered around freely, entering into conversation with a wide range of attendees. The Ukip candidate left early. The Conservative vetoed the video-recording of the proceedings, though the others raised no objections.
I don’t think I’ll be alone in not wanting to vote for someone who is resistant to talking to me or afraid of realistic engagement.
* More on the issues in the 2015 General Election from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015
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© Jill Segger is an Associate Director of Ekklesia with particular involvement in editorial issues. She is a freelance writer who contributes to the Church Times, Catholic Herald, Tribune, Reform and The Friend, among other publications. Jill is an active Quaker. See: http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TQig/Jill-Segger You can follow Jill on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/quakerpen