The elaborate courtship of celebrities by party leaders before the general election is being spurned.
Intense efforts by David Cameron to replicate the “Cool Britannia” buzz once generated around new Labour have, so far, been largely unsuccessful.
Keen to present itself as youthful — even cool — the Conservative leadership is concerned that it remains wedded to a group of “ageing troopers” that one party official compares to the line-up of “a celebrity golf tournament”.
Labour’s showbusiness supporters are also less inclined to trumpet their views than they were before war, recession and scandals made both the Government — and politics in general — a tainted brand with which they would rather not be associated.
Cheryl Cole, the X Factor judge and Girls Aloud star, has twice stated in magazine interviews that she is a Labour voter — but is unwilling to see her vast appeal with swing voters exploited by the looming political campaign. Sundraj Sreenivasan, her publicist, said: “She still holds those views. I will not say anything more than that.”
Some of the noisiest and most publicity addicted people in Britain fall strangely silent when the subject of politics gets mentioned. Lily Allen, a pop star who is not usually shy of venting her opinions, told The Times: “It’s no one’s business how I intend to vote, which is the reason that voting happens in private booths.”
Mr Cameron is a big fan of Allen and presented Barack Obama with a copy of her latest CD when he came to London last year. Suggestions from a Conservative source that he intends to attend one of her shows and possibly meet her backstage were, however, met with a terse response. “It’s a hypothetical situation,” said a spokesman.
Another celebrity apparently coveted by the Conservatives is Mark Ronson, the superstar DJ and über music producer behind Amy Winehouse who donated to the Obama campaign. He was reported in The Guardian as scheduled to come out as a Tory at the party conference in Manchester. He did not. Instead, the biggest star on show was Bill Roache — Ken Barlow from Coronation Street — who hosted a pub quiz with Eric Pickles, the party chairman.
“I don’t know where the rumour about Mark came from,” said Barbara Charone, Ronson’s publicist. “Politics isn’t that cool right now and people are a bit reluctant to put their hands up to endorse anyone.”
One senior Tory figure complained yesterday that stars are happy to give their name to “hot-button issues” such as support for troops but unwilling to associate with “politiicans who dig moats at the public’s expense”.
Conservative high command is thought to have identified the likes of Gary Barlow, of Take That, and Jamie Cullum, the jazz artist, as holding the type of the stellar — but mainstream — appeal they want in the election campaign.
Richard Dawes, a spokesman for Barlow, said: “He wouldn’t be interested in doing it.” Cullum told The Times: “Politics is a very personal thing and I’m keen not to broadcast my political views. I think it can be dangerous.”
He is already working with ministers on a campaign to improve music opportunities for children in schools and suggested that the Tories would be making a mistake if they sought his endorsement. “It’s not something that can be fished for,” he said.
Jamie Oliver, credited with helping the Government to improve school dinners, ruled out any form of partisan endorsement. He said this week: “The people I’m working with in schools, it’s so important to me, that I don’t want to go left or right. I’ve tried to remain apolitical. I actually haven’t voted for the past six years.”
Myleene Klass’s manager, Jonathan Shalit, said: “It’s a no-win situation to come out in favour of one party or another.”
Simon Cowell, the television personality who has also had direct dealings with both Gordon Brown and Mr Cameron through his charity work, was typically direct. “I’m not affiliated to anyone,” he said, “and nor will I ever be.”
As Max Clifford, his legendary publicist, said: “Simon Cowell will always be the leader of the Simon Cowell party — which is totally independent.
“In the atmosphere around politicians right now after the expenses scandal I think there is a lot of scepticism about the whole lot of them. My advice is ‘keep out of it’. If your career relies on the support of the public, why go and alienate 50 per cent of it in one go?”
Mr Clifford himself, however, did not follow such dictums during the last Tory government, which he successfully helped to undermine. “I nailed my own colours to the socialist mast 20 years ago over the issue of the NHS. As for my view of Cameron now, I think he is a PR man. No one can say that about Gordon Brown — he is a disaster in PR terms — but there may be a little more honesty about him as a result. If I was going to vote it would probably be Labour even though, like a lot of people, I feel pretty disillusioned.”
Eddie Izzard, the comedian, is one of the increasingly rare birds who still gets involved in party politics. This week, as he campaigned for Labour in the Glasgow North East by-election, he said: “I can’t leave it to the rightwingers.”
Fiona Phillips, the former GMTV presenter who appeared at the Labour conference this year, said that she had turned down the opportunity to join the Government.
“My views are more Labour than Labour,” she said yesterday. “I just care so much about state schools and the NHS, but I would have been lambasted by the press and would not want to put my family through that.
“I will help Labour if they ask me but I would rather do things quietly. Personally, I think the whole culture of celebrity stinks and an endorsement would not persuade me to vote for someone.”
Other reliable Labour warriors in recent elections have become notably quiet. Noel Gallagher, who at the last election warned that Phil Collins might return to Britain if the Tories won, “is not speaking to anyone about anything”, according to his spokeswoman.
The Tories have had some success in attracting the likes of Michael Caine — who said recently that he would probably vote Conservative because “we’re in a terrible state whichever way you look at it” — and Ingrid Tarrant, who declared this week: “I don’t like Labour because I’m a capitalist.”
There remains fevered talk about a big name such as Victoria Beckham rallying to Mr Cameron’s cause at the next election, although a spokesman for Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment Group, which includes the former Spice Girl and her husband among its clients, said he had “absolutely no record” of any request.
So, for the time being, the list of Tory celebrities will remain headed by those like Paul Daniels, Jimmy Tarbuck, Chris Rea and Peter Stringfellow, who have long since backed the party.
Stringfellow said he had been supporting recent Conservative fundraising events, partly so that he could raise issues affecting his business. “I’ve spoken to David [Cameron],” he said. “But I’m aware as a striptease nightclub owner it could be embarrassing for him if I’m seen to be close.”
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