20th May 2011

Children and Politics Do Mix

There is one, simple, cardinal rule in live TV: never, ever, do live shows with either children or animals.  Both are completely unpredictable and you just know that something will go wrong.  The victim, of course, is the presenter – the grown-up – who is made to look foolish, whether it’s by the dog mounting their leg or the child refusing to co-operate.

But to my mind children are far more dangerous for the live show – because they have a knack of speaking out, pointing out the obvious but embarrassing, putting the question that everyone wants to know but no one has the balls to ask.

And for live shows, you should read politics too.  Too many politicians depend on the carefully pre-planned visit: the staged questions, the well-timed smile, the speech that offends no one but leaves everyone none the wiser as to their intent.  Such is our crowd instinct that even if we loathe the sight of the person who’s wandering round the hospital or town centre, rarely does anyone say anything untoward.

Not children, however.  They’ll say precisely what they see or what they think.  The result is they can put some of the most penetrating, difficult and incisive questions that I ever receive from anyone I represent.  Primary school Q&As are the most challenging.  And the one I had at Gusford School on Monday was the most difficult yet.  Was I married?  How long did I want to be an MP?  Does being paid well make you important?  What is an MP?  What is the hardest thing about your job?

Sound easy?  Try answering them for an eight year-old, knowing that teachers round the room are also listening.  All I can say is that children’s questions really focus the mind.  There’s no way you can ramble on with a political speech.  You just have to give it to them straight.  And that is something politicians are not used to doing.

So, rather like when things don’t go as planned on the telly, putting children in front of politicians may well prove difficult and possibly embarrassing for the MP – but the result may well be more interesting and instructive for the viewer than the event was ever supposed to be.

Willows Come to Westminster

As if Gusford were not hard enough, I ran the gauntlet of Years 5 and 6 from the Willows School, from Stoke Park, who came down to Westminster for a tour.  Wow – what a group!  Beautifully behaved, interested in all that they saw, but the same tough old questions – perfectly, albeit unintentionally, designed to trip me up.

We had great fun.  After my grilling in a committee room, I finished their tour.  It was in St Stephen’s Hall, which was where the old House of Commons used to be, that the majesty of what I was explaining suddenly struck me again.  This was where slavery was abolished!  Where ordinary men gained the vote!  Where discrimination against Catholics was brought to an end!  Where the people stood up to the might of the crown!  You get used to saying it to visitors but in repeating it to children, and seeing the excitement in their eyes, I was reminded of just what those parliaments achieved.

It took a party of school children to refresh the power of that history in my mind.  I hope we can retain just a little of that precious child-like enthusiasm for the great things we can still do, on your behalf and in your name.