General Election 2024: Politicians ‘not professional enough to be clowns’ as performers and punters weigh up votes in election circus

Published

3 months ago

June 20, 2024

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Even the world of escapism can’t escape politics.

Decisions made on the green benches of parliament could be life or death for the circus. Like many businesses, it is walking the wire between rising costs and cash-strapped audiences.

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As part of our Bench Across Britain series we visited a circus tent in south Leicestershire where punters try to forget the world for an hour or so – only to be confronted by Sky News, asking them about the general election.

First, we spoke to the performers: high wire walker Ksenia Archer literally dropped in on our bench while still attached to her safety harness.

“Our costs have gone up miles high,” she said.

“Unfortunately, our customers’ costs have gone up as well. We’ve not been able to increase ticket prices – they have had to go down, to ensure we get any customers at all.”

She added: “The circus was invented in England – it’s over 250 years old. But unless we get support we will be slowly dying out.”

At Circus Cortex, the performers thrill and petrify, suspended from ropes, spinning in the air, balancing on precarious structures – but what scares them is empty seats.

The industry has campaigned for VAT to be reduced to 5% on ticket prices, as happens in some other European countries, and as happened briefly in the wake of COVID-19.

Paul Archer, circus director, said: “Politicians do not understand the difficulties we have: bringing performers into the UK [means] we have increased visa costs; we have difficulties with transport costs going up. The circus industry needs help.”

As for the performers, behind the masks and grease paint they have the same mundane struggles as everyone else.

In the dressing room, dancer Rebecca Peters said she is watching the pennies. “Rising prices, shopping and stuff, travelling to London for auditions, it’s just got very expensive,” she said.

The Circus Cortex tent sits in a field in south Leicestershire, one of the Conservatives’ top 40 safest seats, where in a recent poll the Tories led Labour by eight points – but that was just before right-wing showman Nigel Farage entered the arena.

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Even though he is standing in Clacton, the Brexit ringmaster could take chunks out of the Tory vote. Several audience members at the circus seemed to have lost faith in the larger parties.

“I’m literally done with the current government, including Labour,” said HGV driver Denzil Furtado. “I don’t think they are offering something substantial.

“I’m really convinced by the recent lead of Nigel Farage. He has the charisma of being a prime minister actually.”

His partner, software developer Priya Fernandes, disagreed: “We should give the current government one more chance to prove what they are,” she said.

“Inflation is coming down right now – I think they deserve a second chance.”

Others in the audience said they are not going to vote – even though there are things they want such as tackling the cost of living or lowering taxes, or more support for single mothers, or reducing immigration or improving public services.

But they just don’t see their vote making a difference. Some are making an unenthusiastic choice.

Programme manager Margarita Grigorian said: “I will only go with Labour because I don’t want to go with the Conservatives – and the other parties are too little and too weak.”

Keir Starmer recently told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby “I’m not running a circus”, but the sense in south Leicestershire is that they want a show – a strongman, something daring, and eye-catching.

Asked who the biggest clown was in this election, Mr Archer replied: “They are not professional enough to be clowns.

“You have to understand humour and timing – they haven’t got any of it, have they?”

With days left until polling day, we are entering the finale, and the audience seems bemused – still trying to work out what it all means.

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.