In praise of - temperate politicians.

Senior Features Writer

Thursday 21 February 2013

WHATEVER happened to the days when politicians spoke about politics?

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by Brian Beacom

Here we are facing economic meltdown, education in crisis and you can't pick up a ready meal without fearing Trigger has been reconstituted by a mad scientist. Yet, Prime Minister David Cameron is defending the Duchess of Cambridge from a critical writer?

Now, this isn't a defence of the monarch, it's an argument for people doing the job they're paid to do. We've had to endure the embarrassment of Nadine Dorries and George Galloway rip the backside out of their trousers on the nail that is reality television. Now Mr Cameron, ever the PR man, hopes to lasso public opinion by becoming Lancelot to the fragile Guinevere. What next: comment on how Derek Batey was the quintessential Mr& Mrs host whom Philip Schofield couldn't hold a candle to? Will he be reflecting on Ant and Dec's (misplaced?) return to Saturday night variety?Roy Hattersely once wrote that in politics being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme. He was right. You may argue Hats wrote regularly about Coronation Street. But when he dissected popular culture it was a device to hold a mirror up to society; his Street musings became clever metaphors, whereas the PM is playing to the gallery. "Look at me and think of Schwarzenegger," Mr Cameron once said on a tour of the US.No, David, I want to look at you and think of Churchill or Disraeli. Someone focused on the job.

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In praise of - temperate politicians.

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