The Future Face of British Politics is Changing

LONDON, October 18, 2011 -

The Rising Stars of the Class of 2010 - Committed, Connected and Challenging

A new political class of MPs is emerging and changing the face of British politics.  This generation of highly educated, motivated, media-savvy MPs are using a combination of charisma and political drive to fast track their profile and boost their influence.

This is according to a new report - The Future Face of British Politics? Quantifying the rising stars from the Class of 2010 - released today by the Madano Partnership, a London-based strategic business communications consultancy (available for download at www.madano.com/future-face-of-british-politics/).

Rather than making a subjective selection of the new MPs, the report attempts, for the first time, to measure political advancement analysing 17 available metrics across the parliamentary and media activity of the Class of 2010.

The report, released today, names Chuka Umunna (Labour) as the top performing overall star, even before his recent promotion as the new Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with Louise Mensch (Conservative), member of the Culture, Media and Support Select Committee, as the top media star and Matthew Hancock (Conservative), member of the Public Accounts Committee, as the highest performing parliamentary star.

“The rising stars among the Class of 2010 are a formidable bunch of talented individuals who are fast changing the face of British politics,” said Tim Carr, Partner at Madano. “Our report finds that this generation of new MPs has turbocharged the emergence of a new political class consisting of young, charismatic media stars, heavyweight careerists and Westminster village influencers.  As a result Madano‘s report suggests that the more traditional, capable parliamentarian is in danger of seeing his or her influence eclipsed.”

Madano set out to test the idea that star MPs could be identified by applying quantitative metrics to evaluate the two key facets of modern politics: building media profile and leveraging parliamentary influence. Madano focused on tracking and weighing 17 different factors in media and parliamentary activity including media mentions, appearances on Question Time/Any Questions, rebel votes, Twitter followers, prior political influence and participation at party conference fringe events.  

The key findings point to a future political world where:

• 5-7 years of political engagement and one unsuccessful election attempt is the price of admission for most new MPs
• education is still a key determinant of success with virtually all star MPs having at least one university degree (more than half of the top MPs featured attended Oxbridge)
• the established media still trumps social media in building political profile  
• looks increasingly matter, but at the same time, content (developing policy and political narrative) is also driving influence
• professional experience in the art of communication is growing (a quarter of the top MPs have worked directly in the media or PR and communications).

Madano published The Elected Class of 2010 in May 2010, containing analysis and profiles of the newly elected MPs at the last General Election. That report received significant media coverage.

Notes to Editors

The Madano Partnership is a strategic business communications consultancy that applies clear thinking to deliver clear communications for clients. We help our clients build their reputations by sharpening their business proposition and messaging, understanding market issues and engaging with key stakeholders, creating and managing communication campaigns and managing internal business challenges. The Madano Partnership was founded in 2004.

For further information please contact:  

Tim Carr - +44(0)20-7593-4000 or tim.carr@madano.com or +44(0)7775-853-789
Zack King - +44(0)20-7593-4000 or zack.king@madano.com or +44(0)7879-480-799.

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