Leadership musical chairs
Updated on 20 September 2006
Beau Bo D'Or describes how he came by a musical theme for his exclusive Channel 4 News series.
"There were frequent references to Sinatra farewell tours when the memo about Tony Blair's exit from office was leaked and Tony Blair later talked of his last conference.
"So, for this series, I decided on a musical theme for all three parties and their conferences."
Tony Blair by Beau Bo D'Or
"A Sinatra based image was too obvious a choice for the Labour picture and would (correctly) have caused some claims that I was jumping on that particular bandwagon.
"I suppose I did allow myself to follow the dust trail by choosing the musical theme but there were some obvious and strong analogies I could use.
"The cover for the famous farewell concert for The Band's The Last Waltz seemed an apt choice, although I reckon there will be very few guest stars willing to stand shoulder to shoulder, harmonising with Tony Blair.
"If I wanted to apply hindsight to my decision to use this particular analogy then I could say that The Band (for sometime Bob Dylan's band) were famous for singing someone else's words.
"So I suppose Tony Blair and The Band have one thing in common: they often spouted the words of Americans who made their own individual and entirely different protests about Vietnam.
"But that, of course, would be applying hindsight."
David Cameron by Beau Bo D'Or
"So many obvious and obscure music analogies could have been used: Green Day/Dave, The Kids Are Alright/All Right, and a kick to the groin that I bottled out of using The Average White Band.
"The obvious and most direct was Lou Reed's Transformer - purely wordplay - it's amazing how a weak pun is given a bit of resonance by putting it into an image.
"There are no other similarities between Transformer and Cameron - how could there be? You can't compare a man who allegedly once dabbled in illegal substances with an Old Etonian whose idea of a Walk on the Wild Side is straying outside the bicycle lane.
"Of course I might be wrong about Lou Reed having attended Eton."
Sir Menzies Campbell by Beau Bo D'Or
"I've taken the odd cheap shot at Kennedy and the Lib Dems so it seemed consistent that I had a go about Menzies Campbell's age.
"But it is a concern of his party and the public. I think the party just made things worse and heightened concern that they are more warmly embracing the black art of spin by posing the wizened old chap with a group of attractive young Libdemettes just a day or so ago.
"So it serves nascent spinmeisters right that I chose The Old Grey Whistle Test as the base for the picture.
"The origin of the programme's name is pretty well known so I wonder if Menzies Campbell will be able to remember the tune he was himself whistling at the conference a few days after his Zimmeresque podium is dismantled in Brighton."
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The views expressed above are those of Beau Bo D'Or and do not necessarily reflect those of Channel 4 News.
