Three politicians, three doctors, one fight
I haven’t seen or heard this remarked upon, so I think it’s worth saying that West Dorset must be the only political constituency in Britain that’s being fought over by three doctors.
-Dr Oliver Letwin, the current Tory MP, has a Ph.D – he wrote about the philosophy of emotion.
-Dr Sue Farrant, the latest Lib Dem to attempt the probably hopeless task of trying to unseat Dr L., also has a Ph.D – she wrote about the role of women in rural society.
-Dr Steve Bick, whose chances of winning West Dorset for Labour I’d say are absolutely hopeless, is a GP in Weymouth.
So, they aren’t all the same kind of doctor, but it’s still unusual to find politicians labelling themselves in public this way. I wonder if it’s some kind of reaction to politicians’ low repute at the moment (you know, expenses, and so on…) Doctors are generally better thought of. So, if you’re entitled to call yourself one, and it makes you sound more respectable, why not?
But don’t expect the general election campaign to be genteel. If there’s any sign of Dr Letwin losing, expect Conservatives to push hard for him, and I mean hard.
I remember during the last campaign in West Dorset being phoned up out of the blue by an obvious young Tory, saying that he’d heard Charles Kennedy was going to be visiting the area, and as he was a great admirer of the-then Lib Dem leader, he’d love to go along to show his support for him. Yeah, right, I thought.
I told him he’d been misinformed. But word got out somehow, and I can still vividly remember the scene in East Street, Bridport, with elderly Lib Dem supporters round Charles Kennedy being shoved and even punched out of the way by young Tories wanting to doughnut their enemy with banners they’d made about Lib Dem policy on murderers.
It was disgusting.
And thinking about it, perhaps I’m wrong about the possibility of something similar happening again. For one thing, I’m sure that any kind of vicious behaviour was not encouraged or condoned by Dr Letwin. Also, it was stupidly counter-productive; I spoke to several people who were put off voting Conservative because of it.
For another thing, I think the next campaign is going to be different, because so many more people can now communicate for themselves what they’ve seen, heard and found out. Using this site, for example, and other platforms. We’re not dependent anymore just on sanitised accounts in old media like local newspapers.
So let’s expect our three doctors to run respectable campaigns.
But let’s also note what other people might seek to do for them.
Think of Gordon Brown’s man Damian McBride forced to resign after the exposure of his mucky emails.
Gordon Brown’s a doctor too…
One Response to “Three politicians, three doctors, one fight”
The Bridport incident also sticks in my mind. I was shocked by the tactics employed by the Tories and badgered one of them into admitting that it was the party which had sent them…so out of keeping with the kindly, but naive, Dr Letwin who has always fought a gentlemanly campaign. But then he could afford to, couldn’t he?
I would personally like to see a return to the hustings. Maybe it’s my age but I remember though a fog of tawny nostalgia delightful meetings in town and village halls when we, the pulic, could put the candidates to the test – generally with a degree of good manners and humour.
These days it’s all media appearances only – but without a local media capable of putting our prospective MP to the test.
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