American commentators are comparing the recent extraordinary turn in the fight for leadership of Britain’s Conservative party to an episode of “House of Cards.” Michael Gove, the mild-mannered politician who has just stabbed Boris Johnson in the back, is depicted as a close analogue to Frank Underwood, the scheming president in “House of Cards,” while Gove’s wife, the columnist Sarah Vine, is said to resemble Underwood’s Machiavellian wife Claire.
These comparisons may make a complicated political situation a little easier for Americans to understand. However, they may also produce some misunderstandings, because the British political system is very different from the American. You don’t have to cross over to this side of the Atlantic to find TV shows that explain what is happening. There’s better material closer to home.
“House of Cards” was originally a British show
Before it was a Netflix series, “House of Cards” was a British television series set in the House of Commons, and before that, it was a novel by the former British Conservative politician Michael Dobbs. Dobbs was a veteran of the Margaret Thatcher era and a notorious political operator, dubbed the “baby-faced hitman” by a journalist. He used his experience in the backrooms of the Conservative party to put together the story of Sir Francis Urquhart, a harmless seeming chief whip (enforcer of party discipline in the House of Commons) who knifes his various party rivals in the back as he rises to power. This story — changed in crucial ways to adapt to U.S. politics — was the basis for Netflix’s show about Frank Underwood.
As it happens, Gove, too, spent some time as chief whip. His efforts to scupper Johnson’s leadership campaign with the help of his wife suggest that he, too, is not as harmless as his personal demeanor would suggest. However, in other important respects he could not be more different from Sir Francis. Britain is still a class-bound society, and Urquhart is a member of the gentry. He is a dreadful snob, and his resentment of Conservative colleagues with less illustrious antecedents helps drive his ambition. Thatcher — herself famously a grocer’s daughter, brought many ambitious lower middle class and middle class people into the top ranks of the Conservative party. Gove, in contrast to Urquhart, had relatively ordinary beginnings — his family owned a small fish business in Scotland. He is less like Urquhart than the people whom Urquhart condescends to.
Read the full piece at The Washington Post.
- Publication Type:Other Writing
- Publication Date:07/01/2016