I’m really having trouble forming an opinion about Tory leader David Cameron’s new videoblog – Webcameron. I mean, it definitely is for real, isn’t it? We’re sure it’s not Alastair McGowan’s latest impression?
The first few installments look like a BBC1 sitcom that’s trying to be cleverer than it really is; or the sort of thing you film when you’ve just bought your first camcorder, and you want to try it out. (Or both – remember Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones’s ‘home video’ family?) Cameron’s tone of voice is curious too – sometimes it’s ‘party conference speech’; sometimes it’s ‘Question Time’; sometimes it’s ‘dad’. At no point does it sound especially sincere or convincing (I’m sorry to say). I’ve never felt like I need to see David Cameron washing the dishes. I’m not comfortable with it, and watching the clips, neither is he. (The ‘behind the scenes’ filming from the Conference seems much more natural territory for a politician, and politics.)
But I have to admire the Tories for trying here. Something like this is just begging to be mocked or parodied. The Tory revival is currently built on excellent public relations, and little substance. (Indeed, Webcameron has to be seen as the perfect embodiment of that approach.) They must know they’re taking a risk by doing this. It can work – look at the success of Microsoft’s Channel 9. But the blogosphere is notoriously unforgiving of people seen to be trying too hard.
PS: If McGowan plays Cameron, can Tim McInnerny (Lord Percy on Blackadder, etc) play Iain Dale?