This entry was posted on
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 at
9:14 am and is filed
under UK General Election 2005.
Damn it all, I missed my chance to make a total arse of myself on television. And I was busy blogging and missed the programme’s debut last night. Oh well. I’ll catch up.
Independent – Vote For Me, ITV1: The programme’s gimmick is to put them through a selection process, and the winner will stand for parliament. (i.e. to produce a single candidate)
The Working Title Party was geared to create a fresh crop of candidates: The winning participants can be awarded prize money on a sliding scale. With this funding, the outright winner will have the freedom to begin his own party based on their views and/or the views of their competitors. Recruiting less-successful participants to form a cabinet after the series will be the true test of this individual’s leadership. In fact, the outright winner may not be the person who brings this together – there could very well be a political Darius waiting in the wings (‘I will be the leader of a political party and win an election by the age of 35!’). So they may as a group choose to form an actual party, or they may not. That party may be led by the outright winner of the series, or it may now. Some participants may actually choose to use their funding and fame to begin a political career in existing parties. In short, no political party will be promoted during the series, as it will not – or even may not – exist until well after the series has concluded.
Did anybody watch it? How many parallels are there to my original proposal?
By Shane McCracken January 11, 2005 - 10:03 am
I made a special effort to stay up late for it. All we saw last night was the “auditions” to show the loonies and some vague references (but not too much) to those they think will get through. What seemed to be blaringly omitted was what the “selected” candidate would get. The only thing I remember was that they would get to stand as a candidate. I guess if the Mobile Phone Mast campaigner wins the level of support might be more than if the “stop immigration now” fraudster who thinks 95% of prisoners are “scum” gets the public vote.
By Manic January 11, 2005 - 5:37 pm
“As with Pop Idol, this first stage of auditions will make for the best TV; as it is sure to bring out the nutters and present you with something akin to the best and worst of Speaker’s Corner.”*sighs*
By crabmuffins January 11, 2005 - 9:13 pm
I wonder if it’ll be like Pop Idol and make the party engineered by the winner shoot to the top spot no matter how crap their policies are