The accepted wisdom is that politicians need to have a personality so that they can ‘sell’ to the electorate if they are to be successful / elected. It is also claimed that politicians need to mould their personality to fit the wishes of the electorate – ‘X Factor politics’.
But very few people ask why this is the case. Why does personality politics continue to rise? There are five key reasons why personality politics will continue to grow in importance.
- A short cut – parties have a whole variety of policies on offer, some of which people will agree with, others they will not. The personality of the leader becomes a ‘short cut’ for understanding the party and what it stands for. As politics becomes more complicated the short cut increases in importance. It also allows for a degree of irrational behaviour on the part of the votes and means that they do not have to go through a process of balancing the party’s policies against one another. It is also means that they do not have to read the party manifestos which many do not believe in any case….
- Lack of distinct political parties – as ideology has waned and people become less sure about what the parties stand for, they look for reasons to help justify their voting intensions. The politicians may claim that they stand for very different things but in the competition for the middle ground of politics, where most of the electorate live, outlier policies do not appeal. If many of the policies are bunched together in the centre then the electorate looks for other things to grasp onto. This, of course, assumes that they choose to vote. Many do not.
- BoJo – the Mayor of London has shown that you don’t have to be on message and Teflon-coated at all times. Off the cuff remarks or being stuck on a zip-wire needn’t be total disasters. There is also a sense that his less than polished style provides a welcome respite from the usual politics. But a word of warning. Polling by ComRes, shows that Boris doesn’t score as well outside London on economic trust or as a potential Prime Minister. So a warning to politicians, being recognisable and well-known does not necessarily translate directly into scores for competence or on voting intentions.
- The media – their apparent over-stating of the power of Boris is just one demonstration that they like to portray politics in terms of personalities. Whether it is dust-ups between PMs and Chancellor’s or attacks from the backbenches, the media appears to find putting debates, discussions or disagreements into personality terms. This isn’t a new phenomenon. In the 60s we had Harold Wilson vs George Brown, and before that Aneurin Bevan as the scourge of the Labour leadership but these battles were normally backed by clear policy positions.
- Lack of ways to engage – despite the rise of technology, there remain few ways for people to get involved in politics and policy-making. For many, except the most motivated or nerdy, there is a lack of entry points into the political system – locally and nationally. If politics is seen as a closed shop, the preserve of an elite, then consideration of politics boils down to leadership.
What these points also show is that if we want to shift to a different type of politics and a different type of engagement then we have active choices to make. In particular, the parties need to work out how to engage with a wider community if they do not just want to rely on personality.