New Spitting Image will have a hard job satirising the likes of Gavin Williamson: Anthony Clavane

There was an outcry last month when the Government finally announced its £1.57 billion bailout for the arts. Where, it was asked, was all the dosh for comedy? Our houses of mirth closed en masse during lockdown – but the package 
had apparently ignored the comics.
Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson in his office at the Department of Education in Westminster. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA WireSecretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson in his office at the Department of Education in Westminster. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson in his office at the Department of Education in Westminster. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

The Johnson administration, as is its wont, did a U-turn. After a week or so, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport admitted that comedians were, of course, performing artists and thus eligible for financial support. “Live comedy is a much-loved part of the British cultural landscape,” a spokesperson noted. “It lifts our spirits during good times and bad.”

So it was good of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to make his own special contribution to live comedy this week.

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I appreciate the A-level U-turn was no laughing matter. Students in Yorkshire, and across the country, have been put through the wringer as a result of the down-grading scandal.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in puppet form for the new series of Spitting Image, which is making a return to the small screen. Picture: Mark Harrison/BritBox/PA WireThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex in puppet form for the new series of Spitting Image, which is making a return to the small screen. Picture: Mark Harrison/BritBox/PA Wire
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in puppet form for the new series of Spitting Image, which is making a return to the small screen. Picture: Mark Harrison/BritBox/PA Wire

But the way the saga was reported by the media suggested the former fireplace salesman, who has no background in education, should be awarded an F grade for Farce. Many newspapers described Williamson as a “clown” for bungling the whole thing. Already known on the Tory back benches as Private Pike, of Dad’s Army fame, he was portrayed in a Daily Mail cartoon as Stan Laurel to the prime minister’s Oliver Hardy – under the inevitable headline: “Another Fine Mess.”

It was at this point that I wondered, not for the first time, what Spitting Image would have made of all these government fiascos. Where was the satirical puppet show when we needed it?

For younger readers, the comedy programme was appointment TV in the 1980s and early 90s.

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It sent up politics, entertainment, sport and popular culture.

In its heyday, during the Thatcher-Major era, the hypocrisies, delusions and lies of our entitled political class were mercilessly skewered by a talented team of entertainers and writers. Many of its impersonators are, today, household names.

Well, the good news is that the latex lampoonery is all set to return. After a 26-year absence, Spitting Image will be revived in the autumn by BritBox. Roger Law, who for 12 glorious years presided over the puppetry with Peter Fluck, declared the new incarnation would be “more outrageous, audacious and salacious” than the original.

A new cast of characters will include Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, RuPaul, Greta Thunberg and – if he’s still in post – Gavin Williamson.

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The bad news is that the broadcast media has become far more fragmented since the Thatcher-Major era.

The original Spitting Image might have been one of the most-watched shows on TV, but the new version will be seen on an online streaming service with, at present, a reach of around 380,000 households.

BritBox is being launched jointly by ITV and BBC, but when the iconic puppets appeared on the former, back in the day, 15 million viewers would tune in to see Margaret Thatcher depicted as a cigar-chomping tyrant, her loyal enforcer Norman Tebbitt as a leather-jacketed thug and Labour leader Neil Kinnock as a buffoonish windbag.

We no longer live in the age of watercooler TV, in which certain iconic comedy moments like that Tory Cabinet restaurant sketch –“And what about the vegetables?” asks the waitress; “Oh, they’ll have the same as me” replies Thatcher – had an instant talkability factor.

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True, there are always viral moments on YouTube, Netflix and various social media platforms – but nothing to match the shared sense of national, joyful togetherness that accompanied The Chicken Song.

Despite several attempts – including ITV’s terrible cartoon offering 2DTV and the awful BBC2 chat show Tonight With Vladimir Putin – no programme has come anywhere near close to matching the impact of the legendary puppet extravaganza.

Besides, the reality of today’s rolling-news, 24-7, political world is crazier than anything once dreamed of in Fluck and Law’s philosophy.

Take Williamson as an example.

The man responsible for the A-level fiasco was once the government’s Chief Whip – and renowned for keeping a pet tarantula, named Cronus, in a glass box on his desk.

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You really couldn’t make it up. Today’s political class appear to be beyond satire.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson

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