Debbie McGee has been named and shamed as the Strictly Come Dancing contestant whom Theresa May is rooting for. May revealed her support for McGee while visiting the Middle East (fair enough, there’s never much going on in that part of the world; the PM might as well gossip about a TV ballroom dancing competition back in Blighty).
And good choice: McGee is a hot favourite and not only because she’s an older woman who manages to do the splits without having to be rushed on a stretcher to A&E seconds later.
So, good for McGee. Or is it? Even in showbiz terms, it has to be the kiss of death to have May saying she supports you. There are rumours of ministers in Westminster hiding in cupboards, and jumping off windowsills, to avoid being “supported” by May.
May went on to mention another Strictly frontrunner, Alexandra Burke, but then appeared to forget the names of the other contestants.
This isn’t good enough. If May is going to indulge in stilted faux-populist chat that errs dangerously close to a critical scene in the 1980 film, The Elephant Man (“I (suck) am (snort) a human being!”), then she should at least know her stuff.
Genuine Strictly fans, watching, in the sofa trenches, week after week, don’t tend to say: “Debbie McGee, Alexandra Burke… and, erm, you know, the other ones.” Nor do British citizens pay their taxes for PMs to have tragic meetings about what to name-check in popular culture and then forget half their brief.
Like knowing the price of a pint of milk, knowing what’s going on in Strictly has become a check on how connected a politician truly is to Middle England.
I’m not sure that May passed the Strictly test.
