Where have all the moustaches gone?
Updated on 02 October 2007
Past leaders have sported an array of impressive moustaches, but is the sturdy British moustache now in decline?
What has happened to the sturdy British moustache on sturdy British upper lips?
Leaders of generations past glare out at us from battered sepia photographs, behind moustaches of extraordinary fecundity.
Disappearing act
But now in the photocalls of the current Labour or Tory conferences, there's hardly a tash to be seen.
Has British politics had a clean shave? In our report, More4 News' reporter Girish Juneja, who has a personal interest in the issue, investigates in this report.
Tash of respect
It's hard to imagine a tougher arena right now than Afghanistan, but British servicemen have found that growing a beard helps.
One regiment who had been told to cultivate facial hair ahead of deployment claimed it allowed them to command more respect from the locals.
It's not the first time the British army has deployed its follicle armoury after bare-faced ridicule from its indian subjects, In 1854, moustaches were made compulsory for the Bombay regiment.
Tash slips in popularity
But then New Labour discovered the public didn't trust politicians that didn't trim.
Peter Mandleson threw out his own dark shadow along with the beer and sandwiches of old Labour.
Alistair Darliing lost the beard and found a place in cabinet.
And when Ken Livingston fell on his Wilkinson Sword you'd have thought the game was up.
But facial hair took a star turn when, a few years later, his Mayoral opponent, Frank Dobson, became the centre of fevered speculation that the party had asked him to shave.
Frank's dilemma? Should it stay or should it go? It stayed.
Blame it on dictators
The demise in the fortunes of the moustache is evident at the Tory conference. Searching for an outlandish charity stunt this week, three press officers hilarously decided to grow moustaches.
There are, apparently, no pictures available, but it seems that on the fringe the Tories are pro-choice.
Some say Hitler inspired moustache-hating and with Saddam's famous tash, lip warmers do seem to be a must-have for dictators. Like their owners they command attentio and are a focal point.
With such a reputation, it's perhaps no surprise the tash is in such serious trouble.
