1. Why we hate politicians - fiction and reality
Professor Steven Fielding
Director, Centre for British Politics
School of Politics and International Relations
The University of Nottingham

2. The Centre for British Politics, 2008-
Growing PhD community.
Involvement of leading practitioners.
Major conferences
Cameron’s Conservatives (2008)
Fiction and British Politics (2009)
Impact in media
Election blog.
The University of Nottingham

3. Politics and Us
Endemic tension within representative democracy: to provide stable government OR represent opinion?
Mass-Observation (1939): politics seen by many as ‘just another of the forces which exploit them and of which they know little or nothing’.
Since 1960s social, economic, cultural change:
decline of deference & rise of individualism
better educated & more skeptical
cynical media that attacks not supports politicians
then: ‘anything to say to the nation, sir?‘
now: ‘why is that bastard lying to me?’
The University of Nottingham 3

4. Fiction and Politics
Hazel Blears (2008): negative depictions of politics discourage people from being active in politics.
Hazel Blears (2009): hands back £13,332 in capital gains.
Fictions do have an impact - frame/prime audiences to think in certain ways.
West Wing audiences more positive about real Presidents Clinton and Bush.
JFK audiences more likely to believe in conspiracies.
Sir Geoffrey Howe: the beguiling power of the screen.
The power of narrative - giving meaning to events: stories important to how we construct our vision of the world.
Fiction helps us address a lack of understanding of ‘the cognitive processes in and through which we come to attribute motivations’ in politics (Colin Hay, 2007), of ‘what politics means to citizens’ (Gerry Stoker, 2010).
The University of Nottingham 4

5. Post-War Fictional Politicians

6. Jim Hacker, Minister & Prime Minister - and team
Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister, BBC,

7. Alan B’Stard, MP
The New Statesman, ITV,

8. Sir Francis Urquart, Prime Minister
House of Cards trilogy, BBC,

9. Malcolm Tucker, Spin Doctor
The Thick of It, BBC 2005-

10. Tony Blair & Gordon Brown, Prime Ministers
The Deal, Channel 4, 2002

11. David Blunkett, Cabinet Minister
A Very Social Secretary, Channel 4, 2005

12. John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister
Confessions of a Diary Secretary, ITV, 2007

13. The alternative?
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, BBC, 2006

14. Will the real Tony Blair please stand up?