Year of Twats

Remember that (in)famous Cameron "Year of Change" poster?

Well, you can Tuckerise it.*

*Unsurprisingly, this does involve the odd profanity.

Did this serious of The Thick of It end satisfactorily? Yes, I think it did. But it did stretch the boundaries of credibility somewhat.

Firstly, Malcolm's return from the political wilderness did happen very quickly. In a matter of days, if not hours. Now, obviously resigning in disgrace is not a big problem for the Labour party; it is a minor hiccough in your career that ejects you from the corridors of power for a few months. However, no-one in the Labour party has quite managed the dramatic recovery in political fortunes enjoyed by Malcolm Tucker. It felt just a little bit too quick.

Also - and this is a criticism of the last two episodes - the character of Steve Fleming felt a little jarring. The idea of having an antithesis to Malcolm Tucker is a good one, but Fleming failed to be that. Instead, his grinning, upbeat persona with occasional lurches into profanity never quite worked. He looked and acted like he had wandered in from I'm Alan Partridge. Which was a shame, because the other characters in the show have always been very human (in terms of having deep personality flaws) and therefore very realistic.

Finally, it was a little bit too much to introduce the Fucker into the programme. Whilst Tom Hollander did a great job in making this character instantly memorable with very little screen time, it stretches the bounds of credibility that the Opposition would have a mini-me version of Malcolm waiting in the wings ready for any election. It creates the sort of symmetry that seldom occurs in real-life. As (relative to Malcolm) restrained as Stewart appears, he was completely believable for the new look, touchy-feely Tories. The Fucker may be a bit OTT.

Yet the moment I found most unbelievable at first - the idea that a Prime Minister would call a General Election they are likely to lose in order to avoid a leadership contest - actually is, in retrospect, very believable. It is entirely the sort of thing I could see Gordon Brown doing. In fact, when Nu Labour finally falls and the memoirs are committed to paper and then remainder bins across the country, I fully expect to read (secondhand, via Private Eye) that one of the reasons why Brown was never challenged by senior people in his party was because he always threatened to call a General Election if they did so. It is precisely the sort of vindictive cowardice that has become the hallmark of our incumbent Prime Minister...

Leaving the Office the Malcolm Tucker Way

Much has been made (not least on this blog) about the close relationship between The Thick of It to what passes for politics in this country today. Which got me thinking about the ending to the most recent episode (spoilers ahead). Malcolm Tucker's behaviour after his forced resignation was breathtakingly bad, but completely in keeping with his character. He certainly didn't leave quietly. The shouting, the swearing, the threats of violence, the physical intimidation of others topped off by his ominous threat that they would see him again made it a particularly memorable departure from the corridors of power.

I've no idea whether the resignation of Alastair Campbell unfolded in such a dramatic way. However, I'm pretty sure that Downing Street will see a departure like the one depicted in The Thick of It before long. Think about it - the refusal to accept reality, the blind rage, the swearing, bullying and final threat to return: I reckon it is the perfect depiction of how Gordon Brown's departure will go...

Quote of the Day

"Yes, if it came to it! If you have to wade through all this shit to win the election, then I'm happy to lose it! Alright?"

Peter Mannion in The Thick of It

If you missed the most recent edition of The Thick of It, then you missed a classic episode of what is one of the best things on TV at the moment. In particular, it is great to see how the series is reflecting the current reality of our incumbent government as they slide towards electoral defeat. The series seems to be perfectly capturing the bland nature and the utterly empty ideology of a failing government. And, in particular, this country's failing government.

Best of all is the presentation of Malcolm Tucker - a man increasingly on the edge as he tries to do what he has always done but doesn't have the same resources. With a new minister and an absolute dearth of anything to fill a conference with other than cheap stunts, he truly is trying to polish a turd. His move from verbal to physical assaults was inevitable. Yet the best line from the most recent episode doesn't go to Tucker or the terrible, foot in mouth twunt acting as the Press Officer for the conference. Instead, Glenn managed to come up with the best quip"

"I feel like I am in a therapy group being run by my own rapist."

Magic!

Just What Is Malcolm Tucker?

There are some obvious answers to that question. He's very funny, for a start. In a scary way. And he's a mix of Alastair Campbell and Damian McBride, although arguably more monstrous yet competent than either of those. And he is a stunning indictment of British politics in that such an outrageously vile character can be seen not just as believable, but an accepted (and, for some, essential) part of the British political process.

Yet how would we classify Tucker? It would take a strong heart to call him a hero; he treats people with utter contempt, has a mouth like an open sewer sweating in the summer sun and is clearly propping up an absolutely undeserving Labour government. Yet he's not really a villain either - in his own, utterly self-serving and unpleasant way, he is trying to help people. Plus The Thick of It (and In The Loop for that matter) really lacks anyone who could be called a hero. I guess at the end of the day Tucker is your archetypal anti-hero - you end up routing for him without really wanting to. Because, at the end of the day, he is the only character in the show who is in any way competent and shows anything even approaching a backbone.

Which is what makes The Thick of It - which sometimes comes across as a documentary about modern British politics - so terrifying. The most competent member of this fictional yet very real government is the glowering, perpetually irate and creatively profane Malcolm Tucker. And he is, at best, an anti-hero...

In The Loop

Initially, I shied away from the film version of The Thick of It. When British TV programmes go international, they tend to lose a lot of what makes them great. Whilst I wasn't expecting In The Loop to be as wanky as a Richard Curtis movie, I did think it would end up as a neutered version of the very, very dark original TV programme. Which was something that could endanger the brilliance of the original series. But last weekend, I caught it. And it was pretty much spot on.

The caustic, brutal cynicism and the eye-watering profanity was still there. This was an angry piece of film-making, and it seemed to make few allowances for the international audience likely to be watching this film. As always, I learned about new combinations of swear words that had never occurred to me. And some of the imagery - especially around the horse's cock - nearly had me retching. 

The introduction of new characters also helped the film. The Americans were a varied, complicated bunch when they could so easily have been generic, cliched ciphers rather than actual characters. And the new Minister - Simon Foster - was a wonderfully clueless creation. It would almost be possible to feel sorry for him as he was such a pawn in the games of others, had he not sold his soul and political beliefs at the first sign of a trip to the UN. That said, his bollocking of a hungover aide was a sarcastic person's wet dream. 

There were some standout scenes as well, not least they one where a greasy, arrogant American Assistant Secretary of State actually managed to verbally emasculate Malcolm Tucker. It is the sort of thing you never expected to see, but he did actually manage to shut Malcolm Tucker up. 

Overall, though, the film was more than a little terrifying. It would ludicrous to call it a horror movie - this is the very definition of a black comedy - yet its presentation of how nations go to war was oddly compelling and as a result, very scary. It suggested that the decision about going to war aren't made by noble leaders genuinely believing in the aims of that war. Rather, they are made by arrogant politicians who give no thought to the practicalities of armed, international conflict. By assistants with chronic, mouth bleeding toothache. By hungover aides who don't think about the consequences of what they do. By British Ministers who get erections at the very sight of a motorcade. And by merciless spin doctors - rabid dogs set up to protect and fight for the interests of their masters. And this is perhaps the scariest thing of all. Imagine Malcolm Tucker being ordered to fight on the side of peace. He'd have us committed to pacifism for the next ten years. This film shows that those who make the monumental decisions over things like going to war actually aren't thinking - at least, not in the way you or I would think. Instead, they are pawns in a game that no-one seems to have control of. 

Malcolm Tucker v. Damian McBride

Tomorrow - from broadsheets to wank rags - I want pages one, two and three to be a profile of Tom looking like a fucking political colossus, you know - Tom meeting the Pope, Tom in a NHS hospital chatting to little, baldie kiddies. I want pages four and five to be a timeline of British politics with ME at the center, looking fucking indispensable and fucking benign, and I want page six to be fucking Israel or some bullshit, not a fucking DoSAC deepshit legacy-distracting COCKUP.

Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It

Much has been made of the more than passing resemblance of the adorable, sweary Malcolm Tucker to one Alastair Campbell. And it is easy to see why; there are definite points of connection. Yet, as well as reflecting previous amoral bullies in 10 Downing Street, much of The Thick of It also predicted what has happened recently with that e-mail scandal. And whilst Malcolm Tucker is far better looking - in that he isn't a sweaty, pink faced pig of a man - you can also see a lot of him in Damian McBride. In fact, part of me wonders whether McBride saw The Thick of It and designed it wasn't so much a comedy as an educational video, teaching him how to do his job.

And then compare The Thick of It reflecting/predicting the outrageous behaviour of British political attack dogs with The West Wing apparently predicting the future of US politics. Because Barack Obama's journey to the White House does closely reflect that of Matt Santos. Political drama in the US shows an aspirational story of someone who was written off achieving high office. British political comedy in the UK reflects the appalling behaviour of those who protect our leaders. As well as coming up with new and inventive ways to insult and swear at people.

They'll be some that claim that this is down to cultural differences. That is, of course, horseshit. What it does reflect is a mix of TV producers consciously trying to reflect reality, and also where those countries are in their political cycles. In the US, the media jumped on the chance to point out the similarities between Santos and Obama, because both are seen to represent hope. And regardless of what you think of Obama's politics, he was elected on a sea of goodwill and a real hope that he might be able to do things differently. However, here in the UK, we've got another year of a failed Prime Minister desperately trying to spin his way into another term (or even just keeping his job until the election). Of course we're going to look at the dark as pitch The Thick of It, and note how that reflects reality. 

Tucker was a representation of Campbell, and now we can look at how neatly the programme he was in predicted the godawful, sleazy events of the McBride scandal*. It is symptomatic of a wider problem in British politics at the moment - namely it is an ideologically redundant place where the pursuit of power by any means possible is the be all and end all. And The Thick of It will continue to accurately show what British politics is like until we stop voting in the shower of shits currently in government in this country. 

*There is even an episode about the sending of a controversial e-mail...