Political comedian Matt Forde: ‘There’s a difference between charismatic and shameless’

Political comedian Matt Forde is bringing his satirical show to Cambridge but can’t reveal what’s in it as he has to rewrite his material at every new twist in the news.

Known for his work on Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You as well as his Political Party podcast in which he interviews politicians, he is now launching a stand up tour.

Speaking with the Cambridge Independent, he admitted that although the latest depressing political stories make him as angry as the rest of us, it is all great material and that he redrafts his act before every show. The tour seeks to sum up the state nation and is titled: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right”.

“I mean I’m slightly conflicted about it,” he says, “because on the one hand I’m as livid as everyone else about what’s going on but, obviously, it gives me a lot of material. So I kind of have a weird relationship with it. Obviously, it’s just such fertile ground for comedy writing. And yes, it just means I’m constantly rewriting it, but in a way, there’s a thrill to that.

“I just think it gives it a real topical edge and a real energy. In a place like Cambridge, which obviously has a very politically astute crowd, I think they get a real buzz out of coming and knowing they’ll they’ll hear stuff that’s fresh that day.”

Matt started out in politics as a teenager, joining the Labour party at 15 as a reaction to the hard times he saw his single mum experiencing while he was growing up. He was part of the campaign to get Tony Blair’s New Labour elected in 1997 but left the party after the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and currently considers himself politically homeless.

“I don’t think I’d ever join a political party again because I just find the whole thing so exhausting,” says Matt.

“I really can’t be bothered sitting in meetings, arguing with people about all the terrible things that have gone on within the last five years.

“I don’t have the stamina or the patience for it. So I would never join a political party again. But it would be nice to feel that one day you could vote Labour again.”

He believes the events of the last few years – from Brexit, to Labour’s anti-semitism issue to the ongoing Partygate scandal – have completely turned off voters and that the rot set in with the last general election, during which he claims “both parties went mad”.

“I just think it has spread such appalling cynicism,” he says.

“People expect the Prime Minister to be a really impressive person because people know that it’s the most important job in the country. And for the Tories to offer us Boris Johnson and the Labour Party to offer us Corbyn... I mean, I don’t think there’s been a worse election in history. In terms of the candidates for Prime Minister it was a disgrace. And faced with that choice, obviously millions of Labour’s own voters turned away from the party so the damage done to Labour is huge.

“It means even with a really impressive leader like Keir Starmer, winning the next election is basically impossible.

“On top of that, it means that Labour aren’t in a position to effectively hold the government to account because they can’t win.

“The problem is that it gives Boris Johnson more security. If Labour hadn’t lost so many seats under Corbyn they would be in a position to win the next election.”

But, he says, the shadow of anti-semitism in some of Labour’s ranks will take a long time to fade.

“You cannot have a major party in Britain under investigation by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission for racism towards Jewish people.

“I actually don’t think people have come to terms with how appalling Labour got, I mean, that was off the scale. And that has done deep damage to our public discourse and real damage to Labour’s hope of ever winning an election again, and therefore it’s unbalanced our politics. We are stuck with a Tory party that picks this idiot to be Prime Minister.

“I mean, it creates so much chaos in our politics, but the hope is that sense is returning. Keir Starmer is a sensible, reasonable person. We should be grateful for that. He is an impressive man who would be a good Prime Minister. We are at the mercy of the judgment of the Tory party at the moment – it is basically up to them to sort this out.”

He saves his most scathing words for Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister who seems determined never to resign, no matter what comes out next about the Downing Street parties held during lockdown.

Musing on what could finally make Mr Johnson go, he says: “I guess a criminal conviction might do it...”

But he argues this PM “plays by different rules”.

“It’s not just that Sue Gray’s report would have been a resignation matter for another Prime Minister,” he says. “No other Prime Minister would have even indulged in the sort of behaviour that required the report in the first place. Whatever you think of Margaret Thatcher, or Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, or John Major, they would not have been having the sorts of events in Downing Street that they’ve been having. The police wouldn’t have had to investigate them in this way. It’s just incredible.”

Would the country be safer in future if it avoided charismatic leaders?

Not according to Matt, who says: “I think there’s a difference between charismatic and shameless. I think you want charismatic leaders. As the Labour Party has found to its cost, picking people who are not charismatic is a sure route to defeat.

“You need to pick impressive people, but charisma shouldn’t come at the cost of integrity. And it doesn’t have to. There are plenty of charismatic people within the Tory party who aren’t rotters, who aren’t baseless, shameless individuals who break lockdown rules when everyone else is making sacrifices.

“Charisma isn’t a dirty word. It’s just that this individual should not be Prime Minister and should never have been chosen.

“It says a lot about the Tory party that they ever chose him.

“It was always going to end in disgrace with or without Covid, because this is the sort of personality he has.”

Matt Forde: Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right. Friday, March 25. Tickets £17 from junction.co.uk/matt-forde.