My 7th blog is another blog about the campaign posters being used by the Conservatives, and again, this is a mock-up of a real Conservative campaign poster. Although the parties only started officially campaigning last week, when Parliament was dissolved for the campaigning period before the upcoming election, political parties are still allowed to campaign before a general election is announced, but there are restrictions on how much campaigning they can do. This is a tactic used by Tony Blair right from the moment he became Labour Party leader in 1994, after the death of John Smith (who was only Labour leader for just over 2 years after the resignation of Neil Kinnock, who had lost the second election during his time as Labour party leader - in April 1992). He used the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government, and the fact that they were embroiled in political scandals and in-fighting virtually since they won their fourth election victory in a row in 1992. Tony was seen as a bright new start, whereas, to the public, John Major's political party looked old and tired and haggered, which had run out of ideas and run out of steam. However, Norman Fowler, who was the Transport Secretary from 1979-1981, Social Services Secretary from 1981-1987 and Employment Secretary 1987-1990, then Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1992-1994, the extravagant and sometimes OTT advertising campaign by Tony Blair wasn't really needed anyway, as whether John Smith had lived or not, the Tories would still have recieved a defeating hammering at the next general election. Another tactic used by Blair to make the Labour party electable again was to get rid of some of the socialist policies that had made the Labour party unelectable since October 1974, which was the last election they had won, over 20 years earlier.(Image taken from http://www.mydavidcameron.com/posters/pesky1)
The very design of this version of the "we can't go on like this" Conservative poster is evidently designed by a left-winger, rather than someone merely taking the mickey out of the Conservative party for fun. The image of Margaret Thatcher (David Cameron is being hailed as "Thatcher the Third", after Blair's policies made him seem like Thatcher the Second) is of the puppet version of her used on ITV/Central's satirical puppet programme, Spitting Image, which was broadcast from February 1984 to June 1996. The Thatcher puppet seen here was used, with amendments, from the 1987 election special, broadcast immediately after the polls had closed on election day, 11th June 1987* to series 9, halfway through which she resigned, in late 1990. It was decided, that from the next series, as she was no longer in the public eye that much anymore, that a new puppet was needed, one which could be used so little that it would last until the end of the programme's run (and it did, albeit with minor changes, until the programme's axe in June 1996).
The image denotes the fact that David Cameron is Margaret Thatcher Mk III (Tony Blair being MkII, with John Major coming across as being half Edward Heath, half Thatcherite), the joke, apart from the Spitting Image puppet of her being used, is the fact that she is hiding behind a mask of David Cameron's face, with the tagline "and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those pesky kids" - a line often used in the 1970s children's cartoon series Scooby Doo, in which a number of hippy ghost-hunters travelled around the US with their Doberman dog in a Volkswagen camper van solving mysteries. The line was used in this series, when the person reporting the mystery to them would be revealed as the "criminal", usually heard at the end of each episode.
This joke could easily be used by a programme like Spitting Image or 2DTV or Headcases if such a show were running today. Unfortunately, the only satire now seen regularly on TV is either impressionist shows using human beings (rather than puppets, or 2D or CGI animation) or, most commonly, panel game shows such as Have I Got News for You or Mock the Week. I can envisage a Spitting Image sketch involving many Conservative MPs, such as George Osbourne or Michael Gove wondering where Thatcher has disappeared to, as she hasn't been seen in public for the last few years, and wondering if she is dead. Then David Cameron walks into the cabinet meeting office to confess something to his shadow cabinet, then peeling off his mask, revealing himself to be Thatcher, complete with Thatcher's voice, now back to her old ways, angrily dictating her cabinet on what to do. Then Thatcher's cabinet reveal their true identities such as Geoffrey Howe, Nicholas Ridley (even though he genuinely is dead), Cecil Parkinson (particularly suitable if any of Cameron's shadow cabinet has fathered an illicit child) or Douglas Hurd (if any of them have a Dalek voice). Or Michael Heseltine if one of them resigns arguing over who a privatised manufacturing company should be sold to. (This is in reference to Heseltine's resignation over the Westland affair of 1986, in which the only helicopter manufacturer in the UK, Westland, was the subject of being sold to a foreign buyer. Heseltine, being Secretary of State for Defence at the time, favoured it being sold to a European company, whereas Thatcher had ideas to sell it to an American company. The ensuing dispute nearly brought down Thatcher as PM). Maybe even Ken Baker, David Waddington, Chris Patten or Leon Brittan. I have excluded Ken Clarke from this list as it looks as though he really will be in the cabinet if the Tories win next May's election.
The framing is again very similar to the one used in the previous "Audi Quattro" images, with the very basis of the image on the left and the important message on the right.
*The fact that an hour-long up-to-date special was broadcast immediately after the polls closed on that day is a testament to the hard work of the Spitting Image team, as they would have had to be writing, recording and editing all day to have finally come up with a programme like that so soon after the polls had closed. Just to reiterate, even as little as a week before polling day, Thatcher was not expected to win this time, further adding to show how difficult being a member of the Spitting Image production team was, to have to be constantly updated on current affairs.
The very design of this version of the "we can't go on like this" Conservative poster is evidently designed by a left-winger, rather than someone merely taking the mickey out of the Conservative party for fun. The image of Margaret Thatcher (David Cameron is being hailed as "Thatcher the Third", after Blair's policies made him seem like Thatcher the Second) is of the puppet version of her used on ITV/Central's satirical puppet programme, Spitting Image, which was broadcast from February 1984 to June 1996. The Thatcher puppet seen here was used, with amendments, from the 1987 election special, broadcast immediately after the polls had closed on election day, 11th June 1987* to series 9, halfway through which she resigned, in late 1990. It was decided, that from the next series, as she was no longer in the public eye that much anymore, that a new puppet was needed, one which could be used so little that it would last until the end of the programme's run (and it did, albeit with minor changes, until the programme's axe in June 1996).
The image denotes the fact that David Cameron is Margaret Thatcher Mk III (Tony Blair being MkII, with John Major coming across as being half Edward Heath, half Thatcherite), the joke, apart from the Spitting Image puppet of her being used, is the fact that she is hiding behind a mask of David Cameron's face, with the tagline "and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those pesky kids" - a line often used in the 1970s children's cartoon series Scooby Doo, in which a number of hippy ghost-hunters travelled around the US with their Doberman dog in a Volkswagen camper van solving mysteries. The line was used in this series, when the person reporting the mystery to them would be revealed as the "criminal", usually heard at the end of each episode.
This joke could easily be used by a programme like Spitting Image or 2DTV or Headcases if such a show were running today. Unfortunately, the only satire now seen regularly on TV is either impressionist shows using human beings (rather than puppets, or 2D or CGI animation) or, most commonly, panel game shows such as Have I Got News for You or Mock the Week. I can envisage a Spitting Image sketch involving many Conservative MPs, such as George Osbourne or Michael Gove wondering where Thatcher has disappeared to, as she hasn't been seen in public for the last few years, and wondering if she is dead. Then David Cameron walks into the cabinet meeting office to confess something to his shadow cabinet, then peeling off his mask, revealing himself to be Thatcher, complete with Thatcher's voice, now back to her old ways, angrily dictating her cabinet on what to do. Then Thatcher's cabinet reveal their true identities such as Geoffrey Howe, Nicholas Ridley (even though he genuinely is dead), Cecil Parkinson (particularly suitable if any of Cameron's shadow cabinet has fathered an illicit child) or Douglas Hurd (if any of them have a Dalek voice). Or Michael Heseltine if one of them resigns arguing over who a privatised manufacturing company should be sold to. (This is in reference to Heseltine's resignation over the Westland affair of 1986, in which the only helicopter manufacturer in the UK, Westland, was the subject of being sold to a foreign buyer. Heseltine, being Secretary of State for Defence at the time, favoured it being sold to a European company, whereas Thatcher had ideas to sell it to an American company. The ensuing dispute nearly brought down Thatcher as PM). Maybe even Ken Baker, David Waddington, Chris Patten or Leon Brittan. I have excluded Ken Clarke from this list as it looks as though he really will be in the cabinet if the Tories win next May's election.
The framing is again very similar to the one used in the previous "Audi Quattro" images, with the very basis of the image on the left and the important message on the right.
*The fact that an hour-long up-to-date special was broadcast immediately after the polls closed on that day is a testament to the hard work of the Spitting Image team, as they would have had to be writing, recording and editing all day to have finally come up with a programme like that so soon after the polls had closed. Just to reiterate, even as little as a week before polling day, Thatcher was not expected to win this time, further adding to show how difficult being a member of the Spitting Image production team was, to have to be constantly updated on current affairs.
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