4 - The changing character of political communications

Summary

Introduction

It is late on a Friday night in 2006. On BBC 1, the British broadcasting personality Jonathan Ross is hosting his chat show. His first guest is the Hollywood actor Bruce Willis; his next is the tennis player Martina Navratilova; and his third guest is the newly elected leader of the Conservative party, the official parliamentary opposition to the Labour Government, David Cameron. Following a brief film, chronicling Cameron's rapid rise through the party, he banters with Ross about politics, and then the host begins to explore his guest's adolescence. Did he have pictures of Margaret Thatcher on his wall, did he have - it is broadly hinted - sexual fantasies about her? Cameron is momentarily nonplussed, unsure of how to deal with the question, but he negotiates his way out of his embarrassment and the interview continues.

This moment captures much that is now commonplace about modern British political communication. A leading politician makes himself available for an exchange, not with a heavyweight political interviewer but rather with a talk-show host. The rationale is obvious: this is the way to reach the largest possible audience and to convey a side of the political leader that might otherwise not get communicated, and to convince his audience that 'he is one of us'.