Satirist makes the most of fallout from election

THE week after a general election is one of the busiest times for a satirist, and as the country’s leading satirist it is no different for Rory Bremner.

The famed comedian and impressionist was the final act on Day 10 of the Swindon Festival of Literature and performed to a packed Arts Centre.

Known for his often scathing and eye-opening observations on politics, everyone was keen to see what he would make of lasts week’s Conservative victory. And they were not disappointed.

Right from the start, he launched into impressions of the names which have dominated the headlines in recent months. From Ed Miliband to David Cameron, from Nigel Farage to Boris Johnson, few were spared from Rory’s wit much to the delight of the crowd.

Given the proximity to election much of the material had never been seen before, although with his show on later that night the rest of the country soon saw what had the Swindon audience laughing throughout.

The first half of the hour long show saw Rory give his take on the election and the political fallout from Thursday’s vote.

However, much of this part of the show was also spent yearning for a time when senior politicians had more character, bringing out classic impressions of William Hague and John Prescott. He reserved a particularly caustic impression of former MP George Galloway until the end.

In the second part of the show, Rory, who had appeared on the BBC’s Daily Politics show just a few hours earlier, took questions from the host and members of the audience.

Here he again lamented the damaging effect career politicians were having on politics as a whole, and linked it with what he sees as a wider issue of character been frowned upon.

He said: “Career politicians do what they can to keep their heads down. It’s not about if they say anything interesting or inspiring but coming out of a speech wondering if they have said anything which will be picked up by the press.

“I don’t think this is just limited to politics either. We’ve seen it with the Kevin Pietersen recently in the cricket. It’s almost seen that if people are flamboyant then they are not serious about what you are doing.”

The show was not simply about his comedy routine as he also spoke warmly about his comedic partners and friends John Bird and John Fortune, who died 18 months ago.

He said: “I watched them for many years and learnt a great deal. Through them I leant many things but importantly, never to pretend we have all the answers and always tell the audience something did not know already.”

Away from the comedy, Rory is also a linguist and talked about translating a number of operas.

One member of the audience was also keen to know about his time on Strictly Come Dancing. He admitted that while he had not danced since the show, it had given him an appreciation of music.

But his impressions were undoubtedly the highlight of show and he reserved a particularly caustic impression of former MP George Galloway until the end, before leaving the stage to a rapturous applause.