Pretty boy Dave set for victory over ugly mug Brown

Forget the need for a watertight manifesto or for a hi-tech get-out-the-vote operation.  No need for a shadow cabinet of all the talents or a leader who can perform in parliament.  All floating voters want is an attractive appearance.  I exaggerate, of course, but a Stirling University study quoted in The Sunday Times does suggest that recent outcomes of elections could be predicted by a superficial beauty contest.  Once the faces of respective party leaders had been 'anonymised' the participants in the Stirling University experiment chose Major over Kinnock, Blair over Hague and Bush over Kerry.  The study also found that voters prefer "well-scrubbed" Cameron to "rumpled" Brown.

If appearance is king it's probably time to go the whole way and install David Beckham as Tory leader... or are there limits to this theory?  I hope so!

Comments

[TomTom]

AS computer time has become steadily cheaper so has the quality of work undertaken by so-called academics

[Og]

Editor, are you trying to confuse us? On the homepage you run the headline for this thread "Pretty Boy Dave Set For Victory Over Ugly Mug Brown" directly underneath another headline "Dr David Bull Adopted for Brighton Pavilion" The accompanying picture of Bull does not, one might say, accentuate his masculine characteristics.

[Tory Loyalist]

Blair, I suppose, has vaguely "matinee idol" looks, apart from his jug ears. A pity that he's rumoured to suffer from appalling halitosis, but so did Clark Gable...

...and Hitler.

I would be amazed if anybody with aesthetic taste would claim to find Cameron's peculiar bent-in, melted looking face in the least appealing.

He always strikes me as a cross between Teacher's Pet and Lord Snooty, especially when he's riding his pushbike with that ridiculous plastic cowpat balanced on his head.

And, of course, the obligatory gas-guzzler following behind.

[Yet Another Anon]

Certainly appearance can be a factor, although I'm not sure that Britney Spears is quite ready to be US President yet or that any of Girls Aloud or Atomic Kitten are yet ready to be Prime Minister.

John Smith seemed to be doing somewhat well against John Major and no one would have said that John Smith had matinee features, Edward Heath became Prime Minister and he certainly did not have matinee features and was unsuited to the job in a number of other ways. Jim Callaghan was personally preferred over Margaret Thatcher and yet the Conservatives won in 1979.

[Basildon Boy]

I certainly get a positive response on the doorstep to photos of Cameron. All good stuff.

[Tory Realist]

It's all in the hair. Brown is fine and so is Cameron for now, but Dave is rapidly losing it. We need a snap election before Brown has a hair's lead.

[David Sergeant]

This is not that funny. I know perfectly sensible people who vote on how people look and on the number of letters in candidates names. All this stuff about Cameron being policy lite just relates to political nerds. Cameron's, and Balir's, strength is making people want to take notice of policies.

[Graeme Archer]

Three of us stood as (losing) Tory candidates in Victoria Park ward last May ... I got a hundred or so more votes than either of the other two. Based on this riveting, and absolutely sound research, which I for one am really glad we spent public money on, am I allowed to infer ... ? Definitely not!

Any impact must be marginal at best. Else, how to explain the results in Livingstone in recent memory? De mortuis nil nisi bonum etc etc ... but one thing he wasn't was a looker!

TomTom makes the serious and worthwhile point - with all the funding crises in British universities, why on earth is money being poured into drivel like this?

[Richard]

There are undoubtedly some shallow people who vote on this basis but I doubt they're a significant proportion of the electorate.

Unless it's subconscious...

[Scotty]

"does suggest that recent outcomes of elections could be predicted by a superficial beauty contest." What a load of rubbish!
The female vote is a little more discerning than that. David Cameron appears a more attractive proposition than Gordon Brown because he like Major and Blair before him comes across as a man who would manage to cope with a trip to the supermarket on a Saturday morning. They can see him pushing a trolley with a couple of kids in tow and managing to get the essentials without having to phone home in every isle.

[Peregrine]

Tory Realist got it spot on, hair seems to have a strange influence. The Americans learnt this a long time ago and there are very few bald Senators.

Much as I admire his drive this is one reason I won't be putting money on McCain.

[Annabel Herriott]

Also, women appreciate D C because he can cope with getting three kids up, dressed, and fed before the nanny arrives, when Sam is away. Women think that is spectacular!!! Then they cross reference that to - he will govern in a practical family friendly way, so we will vote for him.
Brown would get lost in the first aisle at Waitrose!!!

[Scotty]

Annabel, I have heard that Brown's lack of housekeeping skills is legendary.

[John Irvine]

"Also, women appreciate D C because he can cope with getting three kids up, dressed, and fed before the nanny arrives"

What planet is Annabel Herriott living on?

How many nannies does she think there are on the average council estate?

Cameron is a spoiled silver spoon Old Etonian who no doubt has some skivvy to tie his laces every morning.

Under Thatcher we got away from all that upper class nonsense. Now we've gone in reverse.

[James Maskell]

To be honest, Id rather have an ugly bastard with the right beliefs and policies for the country than have an effeminate good looking man who has no idea how to run Britain...

[Graeme Archer]

So you can relax James, as you're going to get a good-looking geezer, nice dad an' all, with the right policies to run the country. No need for these dreadful hard bastards round HERE thank you very much.

[JAmes Maskell]

Im sure hes a nice dad, as for looks, hes not really my type... As for policies we've been there before so I need not repeat...

[celebrity movie archive]

Dave looks like premier minister of UK.