We have a love-hate relationship with reality television in this country. We have a similar bond with our politicians; minus the love. With that in mind, it was impossible to figure out why Nadine Dorries had embarked on a game of ‘I’m An MP… Get Me Out Of Here’ in the belief that her stint in the Australian jungle would ignite a new found appreciation for elected politicians.
After 12 days of TV exposure, the connection with the public that Nadine had longed for finally revealed itself. The politics of the jungle, however, is not determined by where the voters mark their crosses but by how many go the trouble and expense of phoning to vote you out. The public wasted no time in making her the first to disappear from our screens.
Dorries will return to face the music once she has managed to shake off the scorpions. Like many women in representative politics, however, I can’t help but feel that the whole episode has undermined efforts to make public life more appealing.
In her post-eviction interview, the MP told Ant and Dec that politicians have to go to where people are. The ‘people’ she refers to are the viewing public who watch the show from their own homes. For too many of them, the dilemma each day will have been the choice between a decent evening meal and turning on the heating. By appearing on the show, yes, Dorries succeeded in putting herself in front of them. She failed, however, to give them any reason to put their faith in politicians.
Moreover, women are under-represented in every political chamber in this country. So because there are fewer of us around, when one of us acts in a very strange way, it quickly becomes noticed. Dorries’ jungle jolly coincided with the Corby and East Northamptonshire by-election, caused no less by the decision of Louise Mensch to throw the towel in, halfway through the parliamentary term.
Millions of people in Britain are living a reality that they wish they could escape. An air ticket to New York or the Australian jungle will never be an option to them. The Tory-Lib Dem government is shamefully hitting the most vulnerable in our society and disproportionately affecting women and children. The severe impacts of austerity measures, together with long-term ingrained inequalities, mean that many women face a bleaker future at the hands of this government. When our voices are most needed, we are seeing women’s influence across the cabinet and government departments being diminished.
We often hear that when we get it right for women, we get it right for men too.
Before being elected as a Labour councillor, my experiences as a town planner persuaded me that the culture and composition of the planning profession needs to be more representative and reflective of the people it is ‘planning for’. The same is true for representative politics and that is why I am proud to be a member of the Labour Women’s Network.
Women, men and children from every background across Britain desperately need a strong Labour party. Election defeat makes us learn lessons but many of those are inward-looking. Reshaping and re-energising our party is an important part of the continuing renewal process. But whilst we are looking in on ourselves we mustn’t fail to see the suffering across our nation. Not from 10,000 miles away, but from our front windows, the corner shop, the school gates, the job centre, the local foodbank. Up close in the heart of our communities is where you’ll find us.
When we pull together; we fight and we get it right for every man, woman and child. This is the One Nation Labour that connects us to the British people. Now that is something worth voting for.