Post 9 - Spitting Image puppet special.

The ninth post in this blog will focus on the fact that in the run-up to the election, the former Spitting Image production team decided to make latex puppet versions of the current three main party leaders (despite attempts a few years ago to make a comeback, ITV have repeatedly refused to bring the show back on cost grounds. The original show cost between £200,000 and £300,000 per episode to make, and as ratings hit an average of 15 million by 1986, it would bring in advertising revenues of around £500,000 for the advertising break before the show, during the show and after the show. not so in today's multi-channel, multi-platform environment)

(Image taken from http://www.radiotimes.com/content/features/galleries/spitting-image/01/)

The satirical comment being made in this picture is that the three main party leaders are playing a game of cards, as until the first of the three TV election debates, the opinion polls suggested that there was no overall majority in people's preference for political party, there was no guarantee who would win the next election. there is still no guarantee as i type, but the first TV election debate did produce an overall majority for the Liberal Democrats. However, there are still two more TV election debates to go, so a Liberal Democrat victory at the upcoming election cannot be guaranteed at this point - Nick Clegg has to prove to the public that he is worthy of the job of Prime Minister by these TV election debates and by the other, older forms of campaigning around the country.

This image neatly shows that it is not always the Prime Minister in charge of their party, especially its election campaign. Peter Mandelson, seen as a butler in the background, is seen to be whispering tips to the Prime Minister on how to win the card game - a swipe that he can win elections. Peter Mandelson, Labour MP for Hartlepool 1992-2004 was responsible for the rebranding the party saw in 1986, in preparation for the 1987 general election (at the time, he was a Labour party official, not a Labour MP), and then again at the 1997 general election, during which John Major's Conservative party, who had been in power for almost 18 years at that point, took a pasting (so to speak) from the rebranded "New" Labour party, led by Tony Blair.

"Mandy", as he is sometimes known as, has become well-known for resigning from the cabinet twice, the second time he also resigned from his constituency, leaving the Labour party for a job as European Commissioner for Trade. In 2008, he returned to the cabinet, without a constituency, and made a life peer by Gordon Brown. This was somewhat ample timing, as Mr Brown's personal popularity was sinking at that time, because he had bottled out of a general election at the beginning of his premiership and also, more importantly, because of the world financial crisis.

The image is framed so that the most important objects of the image, the puppets of leading politicians playing a card game, is at the centre of the image, as the image is wanting to show that it is relating to people not being able to guess who will win the outcome at the upcoming election.

Unfortunately, once more, I cannot think of any ideas for my work that can be generated from this image.