Are politicians social media influencers?

Boris likes to give the impression of an affable if not hapless man—a lovable buffoon. His trademark ‘just got out of bed, but I’m much too busy to think about running a comb through my hair’ is not an accident. It’s his attempt at being relatable and not too elitist that the man on the street wouldn’t like or trust him. Everything is carefully marketed these days…every hair on BoJo’s head is that way for a reason.

Journalist Martha Gill believes that Boris’s need to be popular is harming the UK. She suggests that indirectly asking the general public what they think shouldn’t be a formal strategy. After all, Karen on Facebook isn’t regularly briefed by the WHO and she hasn’t got Chris Whitty on speed dial—how can she really know which steps to take to successfully combat the virus?

Gill points out that the government has a responsibility to make the difficult decisions on our behalf, given that they are better positioned to see the bigger picture. She says, “We may chafe at the restrictions, but we don’t like the idea that if we grumble too loudly they might be removed. Home schooling is a drag, but that doesn’t mean we want kids to be packed off back to classrooms if it isn’t safe. After all, what do we know? What if we get it wrong? Can’t the experts make those decisions for us? In a real emergency, we don’t in fact want what we want. We want to trust our leaders to do what works, not just what’s popular.”

The government’s success with the vaccine programme has managed to shift our focus away from some of their poorer decisions. Providing a list of dates concerning the lifting of some restrictions has quietened those people who have always insisted that, as an island, we could—and, indeed, should—have locked down our borders last March/April.

In the interest of a balanced piece of writing, I should point out that the current government has been forced to deal with extenuating circumstances in the shape of a global pandemic. Whilst their predecessors have each had their challenges, it’s fair to say that Covid-19 is one hell of a humdinger. Would Labour have made a better job of managing the crisis? Would they have made (and stuck to) their decisions? We’ll never know.

Andrew Rawnsley of The Guardian states, “The pandemic story Boris tried to tell us last year was of a government doing its best in incredibly different circumstances that were challenging leaders the world over. Some of the electorate, the segment of the public inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to a government tackling a national emergency, bought into this account of the crisis. Many were unconvinced, more so as the tally of government misjudgements and fiascos lengthened. The vaccine programme arrived just in time to rescue Boris from an increasingly alienated public and mutinous Tory party.

“The inoculation programme does not guarantee a happy ending to the crisis. The full severity of the scarring to the economy will only become apparent when the furlough scheme and other support measures have been wound down. Whilst many report that Number 10 has become calmer and more disciplined since the departure of Cummings and his gang, the Prime Minister’s essential character has not changed. He could blunder into another over-rapid easing of restrictions and then be compelled to break his promise that Britain is on a one-way exit to freedom.”

Hmm…it seems that Boris needs to work harder to gain trust from some.

So, would you agree that today’s politicians are media-savvy ‘influencers’? Or are we, the general public, the influencers—as we clearly have an impact on this government’s decisions.

There are many parallels between the government and today’s social media stars. Both present what is largely a false reality to the public. Both appear to thrive on ‘likes’ and any other form of adoration.

Both can switch their opinions if a big enough incentive is offered.

Despite the fact that some government policies appear to have been thrown together in mere minutes, politics today is a product like any other: carefully curated, follows the ‘sales’ figures…and marketed within an inch of its life.