00:00Some politicians, though, can get away with kind of being their true selves.
00:03I think that we've seen good examples of this recently include those pictures,
00:08those kind of candid, so this isn't self-promoting, this is pictures that are...
00:13Long lens shots.
00:13Long lens shots, which obviously is not very nice and intrusive and all of these things.
00:17But sometimes people look good on the back of that.
00:19So if you think about Angela Rayner, you know, drinking a bucket of rosé
00:23in an inflatable kayak, wearing a dry robe off Brighton Beach.
00:26I mean, people looked at that and thought, yeah, tremendous.
00:29She looks really fun and also she looks like she doesn't really care
00:33and she's having a great time and that is entirely relatable.
00:36Although it looked not great when she was then accused of not paying enough tax on her home.
00:42I mean, yeah, other opinions are available about other things that she's done,
00:45but I would still stand by the kayak bath of rosé thing made her look good.
00:50That was a positive.
00:51And there was another Angela Rayner having a good time moment
00:53when she was partying with Denise Van Outen.
00:56Where was she? In Ibiza?
00:57Yeah. And Denise Van Outen released this clip of Angela Rayner having a great old time in a DJ booth.
01:17That's not a silent disco.
01:20The slightly weird thing is she's wearing what looks to me like the stuff she wears in the Commons.
01:24She's in Ibiza, but she's wearing like a little pencil dress.
01:26A red Labour Party dress.
01:28And a lanyard.
01:30It's an odd look.
01:31Rave, but respectfully.
01:33Do you remember when David Cameron was Prime Minister?
01:36There used to be these awful stage shots of him and his wife enjoying a meal for two.
01:41Yes, to try and then get everyone to just shove off and stop taking pictures of them in their wetsuits
01:46and things.
01:46Yeah.
01:47I mean, what a life.
01:49Oh my goodness, I had no idea there was a lot.
01:51There were so many.
01:52For those at home, we are, Sam, our producer, they just keep coming.
01:58A life in the public eye.
01:59Oh yeah, there they are.
02:00A fish market.
02:01Pointing at a fish.
02:02Very good.
02:03I think what has to be my favourite clip of all time, which was Michael Gove, while he was still,
02:09I think, a serving minister in 2021, dancing in an Aberdeen nightclub.
02:14And he obviously doesn't realise he's being filmed in this, but in some ways the reaction is so much better
02:21for it because he is, he's footloose and he's fancy free everyone.
02:35Also wearing a suit, not a silent disco either, and also wearing a suit.
02:39Wearing a suit and his glasses.
02:41And it's just like, I love one of my secret, actually it's not a secret, I'm going to say it
02:45loud and proud, is a regional nightclub.
02:47And it's got, this place has got laser pointers, it's got smoke machines, I mean, a sticky floor, I'm guessing,
02:54and like not that many people.
02:55And he's just, he's throwing shapes with a bunch of youths who I'm not sure he knows, but he's just,
03:01he's just going for it.
03:03And it's not dad dancing, guys, it's like, it's, it's sort of techno-gove.
03:08And I love it.
03:09And he, I mean, people basically were, there was a lot of teasing about that at the time.
03:16But again, because it was not something that he sort of proactively posted, unlike poor old Salakrisi with her silent
03:23disco stuff, it was sort of, well, people who wanted to divide it, divided it.
03:28And then a bit like Keir Starmer with his football last week, other people thought that's actually kind of sweet.
03:34But that's the thing, isn't it, is, is these things work, you know, whether they are deliberate and you're putting
03:40it out there to create an impression of yourself, or whether you have somehow, you know, accidentally some footage of
03:45you being a real human has been released.
03:47I mean, let's not get into how extensible some of that might be, but it works if it reminds people
03:53of who you actually are, and it marries with who you are.
03:56It's the authenticity of it, which is a kind of much overused word in politics.
04:00But I think one of the good things, she says, that has come out of all of the changes and
04:05all of the kind of slightly more, you know, ribald version of our politics that we're living in now,
04:09is it does seem that people are able to be a bit more themselves if they want to be.
04:14So you looked at those, those pictures we saw of David Cameron and Samantha Cameron, looks so staged and so
04:19stilted now.
04:20And she's hating it. She's hating it.
04:22It just looks like from a totally different time. I just don't think people would do that anymore.
04:26And whereas actually, you know, when you say what you like about Nigel Farah, she likes his pie and his
04:31pint and his fag or whatever,
04:33there is a space where politicians seem to be able to be, in some sorts of ways, at least, actually
04:40be their truer selves or be seen doing things which are much, much more recognisable than normal.
04:45Yes. The only challenge I'd put to that is, I think some of this authenticity stuff really works if you
04:51have a very standalone, authentic personality.
04:54So, you know, Zach Polanski does like, he was at a cool thing on the weekend where he was in
04:59Trafalgar Square doing a rally.
05:01Or Ed Davey does his stunts. And exactly as you say, Nigel Farah does his, like, I'm the guy you
05:08want to go for a pint with.
05:10But it's actually really difficult if you're someone who is less personality driven.
05:16You know, there are actually plenty of boring politicians. They're actually pretty good at their jobs.
05:19I know, boring is really not the worst thing.
05:21Yeah.
05:21Do you remember when Gordon Brown, there was an interview that he did, I think it was either just before
05:27he became Prime Minister or just afterwards,
05:29where it was one of those kind of day in the life things.
05:31And he said that he was woken up by the Arctic Monkeys on his iPod.
05:37Like, it was technology not available to the rest of us.
05:42It's just like, what? Your iPod wakes you up with the Arctic Monkeys, does it?
05:46Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:46And just completely unbelievable.
05:48Name five of their songs, Gordon.
05:49It's also like, why did you do a terrible thing?
05:52I mean, I like the Arctic Monkeys, but I certainly wouldn't want them to wake me up.
Comments