PO BOX 7312, Whitchurch, Hampshire RG28 7YQ Tel: 020 8371 9589
The Stuckist Party
Candidate’s statement
Charles Thomson is the Stuckist Party Candidate for the Islington South and Finsbury Ward for the General election on 7 June 2001.
I chose Islington South and Finsbury because of the symbolic value of challenging Chris Smith, the Minister for Culture.
He is a Cabinet
Minister and hence a man of great power in a government with such a large
majority. However, he acts as if
he is cowed by the cultural establishment and is unwilling to risk unpopularity
with them.
One time he stuck
his head above the parapet in 1999 and suggested there should be more painting
in the Turner Prize (it was the year of Tracey Emin’s bed). The flak
began to fly and that was the end of that protest. A few weeks before, I saw
him at the opening of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters in the Mall
Galleries. He seemed genuinely appreciative of the work and I believe this is
what motivated him to his protest. His failure to carry it through is all the
more pitiful.
In 1999, the
King’s Head Theatre in Islington lost its Arts Council (L.A.B.) grant,
and consequently its Borough Grant also.
Despite the excellent artistic reputation of the Theatre, one of the
several bureaucratic stipulations then made was that it should produce an
artistic manifesto. If this is
allowed to happen in the Culture Minister’s home territory, what hope is
there for the unorthodox creatives out of sight in the provinces?
And how, one
wonders, can a Government elected by the people be so out of touch with the
people as salvage the Millenium Dome and not Wembley Stadium?
But being out of
touch with the people has of course been a hallmark of Tony Blair’s
government, beginning with his awkward and embarrassing salons, hobnobbing with
‘Cool Britannia’.
Following this, integrity and principle seemed subservient to the ersatz
constituency of focus group, opinion poll and spin doctor.
More recently the
Prime Minister has begun to remind me of one of my past girlfriends, who was
always charming and willing to promise anything – in the future. The only, seemingly very reasonable,
request made of me was more patience, until eventually I ran out of it, when I
realized the future was always with us.
Many people are
disappointed with New Labour and feel taken for granted, if not for a ride. I
offer them a chance to make a protest vote to wake up professional politicians
to the fact that the country deserves some honesty, not constant stage
management and hype.
Charles Thomson
22.5.01
Promoted by, on
behalf of and printed by Charles Thomson, PO Box 7312, Whitchurch, Hampshire
RG28 7YQ.