Lucy S – LVI<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton and Leader of the Liberal Democrats has started to embrace the 21st century with his disputably fresh or doltish approach to politics. In the run up to the 2024 General Election Davey was spotted taking part in various activities as a form of political campaign. This indulgently included Rollercoaster Rides at Thorpe Park, Bungee Jumping in Eastbourne and, whilst it is understandable that the election period can be immensely stressful for politicians, is a \u2018Paddle Yoga Session\u2019 really necessary? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Daily Mail published an article explaining all the ways in which Ed Davey seemed to be \u201chaving the best school summer holiday\u201d. Of course in an interview with the BBC his attempt at a defence was with the argument that in doing these stunts he showcases the policies that the Lib Dems want to showcase; in the interview with BBC\u2019s Laura Kuenssberg, Ed Davey explained that as he slid down a slide ideas and policies of mental health were being talked about and then admitted \u201cI\u2019m not taking myself too seriously\u201d. Post interview it can\u2019t be denied that Ed Davey comes across as a jolly fellow with a fun spirit about him, although I would not go to the extent of branding him to have \u201cgolden retriever energy\u201d as someone on X argued. But this is not the immediate character that comes to mind when I think of a politician; the google definition starts with \u201ca person who is professionally<\/em> involved in politics\u201d. Key words being \u201cprofessionally\u201d, baking cakes and plummeting yourself down water slides does not scream professional to me. Amongst political scandals, this is another way in which people lose respect for politicians because they don\u2019t seem to be taking themselves seriously leaving their constituents feeling like potentially they are not taking their job seriously; leaving policies vulnerable to neglect or simply not executed with the importance and focus they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whilst some may take the argument to me that his method must be having some success because he has made himself known to the electorate who may not otherwise be involved in politics and that his aim could have been to just connect with the public by exposing himself as a \u2018normal\u2019 down to earth person. But some of the people he may have reached with this jovial political method of campaign further exposed his lack of seriousness in saying they would vote for him because \u201cEd Davey is a right laugh\u201d – that would be particularly useful in diplomatic discussions with other world leaders like Macron or Sanchez for example. Of course I am being sarcastic, though the sentence does seem to speak some truth when inserting Trump into the equation. Whilst it is of course particularly important to be a people person in politics, because being able to negotiate policies and represent the people is a key part of the job of a politician, the light-hearted humour that many say we need in politics in the 21st century can arguably be taken too far and in Ed Davey\u2019s case to an unprofound level. When politicians engage on platforms like Tik Tok it can be a great way to seem in touch with the general public and gain a sense of trust and respect, but I believe that respect is a key part of the job and is susceptible to slipping away if the use of social media becomes imbecilic. This includes challenging the current prime minister to a game of fifa via dancing on Tik Tok. In an article in The Independent\u00a0 Holly Patrick explains Davey’s social media stunt of challenging Keir Starmer to a \u201c1v1\u201d FIFA match (of course he also made it clear the match would be for charity). How does he expect any of his particularly poignant political policies to be taken seriously if he pulls stunts like this which embarrass himself and mean people take him less seriously. You can even go as far as to say it actually enraged some people; on the video comments varied from people taking his joke further by saying they expect him to arrive \u201cfor press conferences with a gymnastics set and rollerblades\u201d to a viewer who seemed particularly disgruntled by the video and commented simply \u201cCurrently in one of the darkest economic and social periods of British History and this is what politicians are doing\u201d. I might add that I am sympathetic to this point of view because I think that, whilst some people enjoy seeing Ed Davey come into touch with the electorate online, his stunts are too unserious to be able to promote awareness of the contrastingly serious policies he actually stands for; I can also have sympathy with the slightly cursory view that he is a nice guy but i don\u2019t see that overriding his doltish decisions in campaign methods.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, to people who comment on his Tik Tok how much of a laugh he must be and caused his favourability to rise from 15% to 30% after the election campaign, a larger percentage of people admitted the fact that they could not seriously be bothered to vote for him. This evidences the fact that while his stunts seem a fun and 21st century approach to politics, they don\u2019t inspire the electorate to vote for him because he is simply not serious enough for the job. I can see that Ed Davey\u2019s stunts are an effort to achieve a level of gravitas with the general public but it can be argued that even the supporters of his stunts (who support it for \u201cthe lols\u201d) are doing it because they are enjoying seeing a politician embarrass himself – as politicians don\u2019t have overwhelming popularity. Therefore whilst Ed Davey seems like a \u201cnice guy\u201d I would argue that his new approach to politics via humiliating stunts and dancing on Tiktok is not a serious enough approach to politics and political campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"