Margaret Thatcher School of Charm

According to Nicky Campbell in The Big Questions yesterday, the most watched political programme in the last year was Qustion Time with the appearance of Nick Griffin. I like Question Time as it allows not only the members of the public to be spontaneous but also the politicians. Some politicians come out of it very well but this week I was disappointed with Carol Vorderman. I think that she is an aspiring politician and I wouldn't be surprised if we see her as a future Conservative candidate.

She doesn't mind being rude and aggressive. Her first words were to pick up a comment from the audience about Lord Ashcroft and the worst aspect for this person was the "lies,deception and deceipt". This is quite a reasonable comment that needs an answer but Carol decided to go on a rant about Lord Mandelson. The idea that you can deflect dishonesty in the Tory party by talking about a Labour politician confirms the thoughts of the member of the audience.

The real answer is to deal with the problem in hand. I have written about Lord Ashcroft previously. I don't have a problem with him being a non-dom. My problem is that he is a member of the House of Lords and is part of the legislative process. It won't improve if we are led by people who will not resolve "loopholes" in legislation. There is also the problem of secrecy and lack of commitment to keeping one's word.

What Carol hates to listen to is "politicians picking at each other on technicalities". Could she add mud-slinging to that? I think she has gone to the Margaret Thatcher school of charm. She may well become a politician which is fine if you like unthinking (it did look at one stage like she was making up her opinion on the spot), rude and aggressive politics. She made mistakes on Countdown but laughed them off and this is the way Boris Johnson gets away with his rudeness, but wouldn't it be nice if all our politicians would do more listening and less interrupting.

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