The political X Factor
Whatever it does from here, The Independent Group has already changed the world. From now on, no political launch event can ever expect to go back to the old way of doing things, not after this. This was politics as imagined by Simon Cowell. Which is to say a politics which has worked out that, with the right contrived narrative devices, you can make almost anyone look like they’ve got the X factor.
What a concept it was. A tiny room. The entire Westminster media. Seven leather bucket seats in burnt orange and a frenzied wait, cameras fixed at the door, to see who would come through and sit on them.
So utterly showbiz was the whole affair that, when The Magnificent Seven finally strode in and up on to the stage in single file, not even the loud whispers of “Who’s that?” could diminish them. Berger. Gapes. Shuker. Umunna. Leslie. Smith. Coffey. Some of these names may be familiar to you. Some may not. Some may soon be doing public appearances at provincial nightclubs for three quid a selfie. But for now, who