Cumbrian MPs in Westminster 'Top Trumps' (From The Westmorland Gazette)
When news happens, text KENEWS and your photos and videos to 80360. Or contact us by email or phone.
Cumbrian MPs in Westminster 'Top Trumps'
8:10pm Wednesday 28th September 2011 in Politics
By Helen Perkins, Reporter
FANCY THAT: Tim Farron was named second least fanciable but he got a low ‘gaffability’ mark
TWO of Cumbria’s MPs are pitted against each other in a card deck that brings Westminster’s tactical game play to the dinner table.
Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron and Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart both feature in Top Trumps – Politicos New Generation along with 30 of their political peers.
The game, made by Sky News, ranks politicians on their twitter following, parliamentary debates, potential, gaffability and fanciability.
Ed Miliband comes out on top for his twitter following, with 80,000 followers, while Prime Minister David Cameron scored highest for potential.
The politician with the most gaffes was Nick Clegg, following the rise in tuition fees and rejection of the AV voting system in the May referendum.
Most fanciable was Labour backbencher Dan Jarvis who stormed ahead of his peers with a 96 per cent vote.
Mr Farron said he had already rifled through the pack to check his ranking.His card sums him up as a ‘populist, God-fearing man of the people who preaches the Lib Dem gospel from the top of the Lakeland fells’.
“I’m massively disappointed with being the second least fanciable person!” he said. “The only one who got a worse mark than me was Danny Alexander. I think there’s a bit of gingerism going on here.”
He added: “Politics might be a game to Sky News but it isn’t to me. Still, as a politician you’re secretly quite pleased to be in there.
“I’ve been given a low gaffability mark but I try to speak my mind and know that when you get a lot of coverage things you say get pulled out of context.”
Meanwhile, Mr Stewart’s card describes the Conservative as ‘charming and raffish’ and an ‘old-school adventurer’.
He said it was important to distinguish between political trivia and the real world.
“Politics isn’t a game. The way the government works has a big effect on our country and our lives.”
The 38-year-old dismissed the character analysis given by his Top Trumps card, which summarised him as ‘the Tories’ most eligible bachelor’. “That’s definitely incorrect,” he said.
“I’m definitely not the most eligible bachelor but I don’t think I’ve got much to say on that topic. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun.”
