I almost feel sorry for the Tory Ten in Tatler. Great to get the profile, of course, but there’s no greater curse in politics than being tipped as the Next Big Thing. And the spread even assigns them all Cabinet positions (“tipped as a future Chancellor of the Exchequer” etc).
The media mood has swung – see The Guardian’s leader the other day – and there’s a huge appetite to crown a new establishment. The media loves heroes, especially new ones, just as it loved villains in the Hague/IDS era.
But this swing of the pendulum brings mixed blessings. The public don’t like feeling that their vote is being taken for granted, and picking up these publications – where ten Tories seemingly pose as the next Cabinet before they’ve even been elected to parliament – will look like premature triumphalism.
I don’t blame the candidates, raising the profile with a Tatler magazine interview is pivotal to getting elected. But the sheer media appetite to get behind the Next Big Thing may give the impression to voters that election is over already and as Barack Obama is finding in America, voters like that not one bit.
As James says in this week’s magazine, the danger Cameron faces is a similar danger to Obama being portrayed as the incumbent by an over-excited media, this allows a new candidate from the ruling party to pose as the underdog.
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