Election 2015: Political endorsements - Newspapers, Russell Brand and #Milifandom

As might be expected, the media has had a lot to say about the upcoming 2015 UK general election. Their major concern has been the matter of who will do a deal, and who they will do it with, when the predicted hung parliament arrives on the day after the 7th May. Most of that focus has been on Labour and SNP- with many making headlines of the deal offered by the SNP's leader Nicola Sturgeon during the opposition debate (Kleiderman, 2015), with less coverage of the fact that Ed Miliband made a clear and absolute refusal.

There have also been a few celebrity endorsements, mostly for Labour. Delia Smith, Steve Coogan, Paul O'Grady, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Martin Freeman and Jo Brand have given their backing to Ed Miliband's party (Turner & Holehouse, 2015). None of these endorsements have received quite as much attention as Russell Brand. Brand's comments in the years running up to the election, suggestive that people should not to vote in protest against the British political system, have been heavily criticised (Alexander, 2014). However, with only a few days to go until the election, Brand has now endorsed Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas (Walker, 2015) and today endorsed voting for Labour (New Statesman, 2015) - which feels like a slightly irresponsible shift in position to make, from 'won't vote' to 'vote for this', after the voting registration deadline has long passed.

The newspapers have also begun to declare themselves. The Financial Times and the Economist have both come out in favour of a continuing Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition (Ashmore, 2015). The Guardian has backed Labour, but with an acknowledgement of the value of voting Liberal Democrat or Green where those parties have a chance (The Guardian, 2015). As for The Sun, it has declared in favour of the Conservatives - and yet its sister paper in Scotland has backed the SNP (BBC, 2015).

Just as interesting, and maybe quite a lot less bland, has been the coverage on social media where the election, and particularly the economics debate, has been a top trending topic over the last month (Simmonds, 2015). UKIP have been the most talked about party, though not necessarily for good reasons - controversial as they are - but the Greens have received the most positive tweets ahead of the Conservatives, who have a slight edge over Labour in terms of positive feedback.

The most inspiring social media story was the launching of a social media campaign, #Milifandom, against, and in order to counter, the alleged distorted portrayal of Ed Miliband in the media (Jewell, 2015). Abby, 17 and apparent spokesperson for the fandom, has said that they wanted to "change opinions so people don’t just see the media’s usual distorted portrayal of him".

Responses to #Milifandom have included references to 'smitten' teenage girls, and photoshopped images of politicians as 'only ephemerally amusing', of fandom being just teenage girls falling 'desperately in love', and a product of their 'all-consuming hormonal hysteria' (Jewel, 2015; McElvoy & Parkinson, 2015; Ratcliffe, 2015) - which all leave a whiff of condescension in the air.

Apart from somewhat robbing these people of their agency by reducing their actions to 'smitten hormonal hysteria', a fairly big point seems to have been missed about fandom: tongue-in-cheek, excessive exaggeration and over-the-top sarcasm and irony are common and deliberate tools for making a point. And enthusiasm, something that has become almost a dirty word in a world undercut by irony, is also alive and well in fandoms.

A sense for the satirical? An interest in challenging establishment message and expectations? Passionate enthusiasm? These are all things politics does not have in plentiful supply. Here are people, mostly young and female, two other things poorly represented in political circles, who understand how their medium works and how to mobilise people using it - and they're using it to challenge a mass media editorial line in their own way. Patronising them is really not the way forward.

Of all the stories at this election, from newspaper and celebrity endorsements to post-election deals, the enthusiasm shown for politics by thousands young women is easily the most important. Passion and a critical eye, with a satirical tongue firmly in cheek, is a good sign for the future electoral politics in the UK. It gives us hope that, regardless of what deals and compromises are made that drive people away from politics in disaffection, there will always be people out there with the energy to speak up and participate.

References

Alex Kleiderman's 'Newspaper headlines: Sturgeon offer to Miliband assessed'; on the BBC; 17 April 2015.

Camilla Turner & Matthew Holehouse's 'Labour receives celebrity endorsements from Delia Smith and Steve Coogan'; in The Telegraph; 4 May 2015.

Ella Alexander's 'Russell Brand on John Lydon criticism: I'm not saying don't vote'; in The Independent; 16 October 2014.

Peter Walker's 'Russell Brand endorses Green MP Caroline Lucas'; in The Guardian; 30 April 2015.

Media Mole's 'Russell Brand endorses Labour'; in the New Statesman; 4 May 2015.

John Ashmore's 'Financial Times and Economist endorse 'Conservative-led coalition''; on Politics Home; 30 April 2015.

'The Guardian view: Britain needs a new direction, Britain needs Labour'; in The Guardian; 1 May 2015.

'Election 2015: The Sun and the Scottish Sun endorse rival parties'; on the BBC; 30 April 2015.

Charlotte Simmonds' 'How are the parties’ economic promises playing out on social media?'; in the New Statesman - sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services; 23 April 2015.

Hannah Jewell's 'Ed Miliband Has Developed A Small But Growing Fandom Of Teen Girls'; on Buzz Feed; 21 April 2015.

Anne McElvoy & Hannah Jane Parkinson's 'Is social media trivialising politics?'; in The Guardian; 25 April 2015.

Rebecca Ratcliffe's 'Milifandom soars with Twitter backing for Labour leader Ed Miliband'; in The Guardian; 22 April 2015.

Hannah Jewell's 'The 17-Year-Old Leader Of The Milifandom Is Upset That Sun Journalists Tracked Down Her Family'; on Buzz Feed; 2015{2}.

Rhiannon Lucy Coslett's 'Hooray for the Milifans. They can change the world for the better'; in The Guardian; 22 April 2015.