Thrilling news of some old favourites as Sting and Trudie Styler join the general election fray.
Frankly, their silence up to this point had felt worrying. A good few months before the last general election, the couple organised a week-long summit at their Tuscany estate. “Humanitarian activists will break bread with film directors,” the leaked invitation to this event promised. “There will be speakers who, over a long lunch, might give an informal talk about the world they occupy, and put forward visions for the way art, culture and cinema can participate in social transformation. We will rethink how change happens in our society.”
I’m not sure what the conclusions of that were – no communiques were made available to the public – but this time round, Sting opted to outline his vision at an event in South Shields hosted by David Miliband. “I’m supporting Labour this time,” he informed the audience. “I believe in strong government and I believe all of these minority parties just picking away at a two-party system with no agenda to govern are wasting everyone’s time. Particularly Ukip, which I think is a joke.”
Thanking you, Sting. But what of Trudie? Confusion seems to have arisen over the fact that madam has, in the past, made three separate donations to the Conservative party in Richmond, where Zac Goldsmith is the sitting MP. As someone once accused of “class envy” by Trudie, I daren’t presume to interpret her actions. But we do know that both she and Goldsmith share a passionate interest in the environment. After all, Trudie once made the 80-mile journey to Zac’s house in a helicopter, probably to discuss it all.
Still, for the elimination of doubt, and instead of expending their energies on some unwatchable head-to-head between David Cameron and Ed Miliband, couldn’t the broadcasters consider a far more enticing alternative? A pre-election debate between Sting and Trudie would be something all right-thinking people could get behind, and the campaign to make it happen starts here.
• This article was amended on 13 March 2015 to correct a quote from Sting.
