[History][Conservative Party]
This new Conservative history video gives us an insight into the mind of the modern media professional working at Conservative Central Office. Not for the quality of the video – it has a strobe light effect that leaves you a little weak at the knees if you stare for too long. No, it’s beauty is in the telling ‘who’s in, who’s out’ message the video subliminally projects.
Despite being a popular guy and former leader, poor old Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague only gets a 9 seconds showing. At least the good deeds of Iain Duncan Smith made it into double figures, just, at 10 seconds.
More alarmingly, Mrs Thatcher is worth three Winston Churchills and poor old Ted Heath, who was at least elected PM, is worth a tiny 16 seconds, 13 seconds less than Michael Howard who failed in his ambition to get to number 10.
Amazingly Neville Chamberlain gets more air time than the great Harold MacMillan. Arthur Balfour comes off worst at 7 seconds, one second less than Anthony Eden. I thought that-born-to-rule Eden would have fared better with the current Tory leadership. I guess the iron law of the focus group relegates him, albeit temporarily I’m sure, to the lower leagues.
Unsurprisingly, David Cameron is in a strong second place to recently rehabilitated Margaret Thatcher, a whole 28 seconds ahead of William Pitt, 15 seconds more than Disraeli, 16 ahead of Winston Churchill.
William Pitt 29-41 13 Sec
Duke of Wellington 42-50 9 Secs
Robert Peel 51-1:26 36 Secs
Benjamin Disraeli 1:27-1:52 26 Secs
Lord Salisbury 1:53-2:19 27 Secs
Arthur Balfour 2:20-2:26 7 Secs
Stanley Baldwin 2:27-2:53 27 Secs
Neville Chamberlain 2:54-3:23 30 Secs
Winston Churchill 3.24-3:48 25 Secs
Anthony Eden 3:49-3:56 8 Secs
Harold Macmillan 3:57-4:22 26 Secs
Edward Heath 4:23-4:38 16 Secs
Margaret Thatcher 4:39-6:06 88 Secs 1:28
John Major 6:07-6:43 37 Secs
William Hague 6:44-6:52 9 Secs
Iain Duncan Smith 6:53-7:02 10 Secs
Michael Howard 7:03-7:31 29 Secs
David Cameron 7:32-8:12 41 Secs
You’ll see in the bar chart below that our greatest war time Prime Minister makes it in eleventh place on the video. I demand a new, Director’s Cut release, with Winnie in his rightful place.
6 comments ↓
Perhaps they didn’t see Churchill as enough of a Tory? After all, he was only made PM on Labour’s insistence over Tory objections, and stood as a Liberal and an Independent at various stages of his parliamentary career.
In otherwords… The 80s, anyone remember them? It was brilliant!
Sorry, had to turn it off when I got to the blessed Margaret – surely they know that her liberal economic conservatism is not the same as the paternalistic, patronising conservatism of old! I don’t want either version thanks.
You really must have too much time on your hands.
Still, it’s a nice video.
Pitt was the Greatest Uk wartime PM – he introduced progressive rates of Income Tax to pay for it.
Oh, and he called himself an “independent Whig,” not a tory.
[Irish Gaelic tóraidhe, robber, from Old Irish tóir, pursuit; see ret- in Indo-European roots.]
To’ry adj., To’ry·ism n.
They lied more engagingly in those days.
Someone has too much time on their hands.
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