63 Responses to “Bedfordshire North East”

1. H.Hemmelig

   Interesting…..especially as it is usually the other way round, especially on the Labour side….

   There’s many a posh public-school educated Labour MP trying to dumb down their cut class accent to fit in with their constituency in some shithole of the north or midlands.

   (not forgetting the grand master of this was one T.Blair himself)

   Eric Pickles certainly hasn’t lost his accent despite over 20 years of living in the home counties.

   June 22nd, 2011 at 1:05 pm
2. Shaun Bennett

   But isn’t it easier to get away with not dropping your northern accent when you are MP for a southern seat than it is to refuse to adopt a northern accent if you are MP for a northern seat?

   The Home counties electorate are not so upset by the issue of class identity. If anything, the only problem a northern born MP may face is a tendancy to be looked down upon because of their accent. But the fact they have risen to the post of MP in the first place is often enough to counter this tendancy-especially if they have the supremeself confidenc of Eric Pickles. Indeed, Pickles has turned his accent to his advantage.

   By contrast, northern electorate’s are often so entirely obsessed by notions of class that having an MP without a northern accent becomes a major disadvantage to them. Perhaps its because so many of the left wing voters of the north are so eager to identify with being ‘working class’ whether they are or not that they have such a massive chip on their shoulders about people who don’t fit in with that identity. Hence the trends that Hemmlig has mentioned.

   Just a thought.

   June 22nd, 2011 at 1:28 pm
3. H.Hemmelig

   Yes that’s maybe true. Probably even more true of Scotland.

   June 22nd, 2011 at 2:58 pm
4. Merseymike

   What a load of nonsense. I haven’t noticed Stephen Twigg change his accent since he became MP in Liverpool – Ed Miliband hasn’t suddenly adopted a Yorkshire accent either although he did live there (Leeds) for 4 years as a child. Ed Balls has a very ‘classless’ accent – both he and Ed M are from academic families.

   Who exactly are the Labour MP’s who have gone prole to please their constituency?

   June 22nd, 2011 at 11:19 pm
5. Andy JS

   I’ve heard Don Foster, LD MP for Bath, pronounce the name of his constituency the way most of his constituents do although he normally says words of that kind the northern way since he’s from Lancashire.

   June 22nd, 2011 at 11:48 pm
6. H.Hemmelig

   “Ed Balls has a very ‘classless’ accent – both he and Ed M are from academic families.”

   Really? I would never have guessed that.

   Labour supporters must see that having most of their leading lights from this kind of background is going to be a major problem for them in terms of connecting with their voters going forward.

   How did the party of ordinary working people come to this – being hijacked by a bunch of useless pointy-headed second rate academic wonks?

   Blair was hardly the horny-handed son of toil but at least he was pretty good.

   June 23rd, 2011 at 3:56 am
7. Tim Jones

   ‘I’ve heard Don Foster, LD MP for Bath, pronounce the name of his constituency the way most of his constituents do although he normally says words of that kind the northern way since he’s from Lancashire.’

   Not sure about the class issue but I’ve always found it strange that you get MPs who represent areas they aren’t from

   You get plenty of Labour MP’s in particular with Northern/Scottish & Welsh accents representing seats in London – Frank Dobson for example

   And likewise you get plenty of wannabe Tory MPs who conform to all the toff stereotypes running in working class seats from Liverpool to Glasgow

   I thought the whole idea about being an MP was being an effective champion of YOUR local community – and if you’re not from your constituency can you really do the job – although examples of first-class MPs like Edmunton’s Andy Love, a Scot, show that whilst this isn’t necessarily the case it certainly isn’t a vote winner

   June 23rd, 2011 at 9:41 am
8. Pete Whitehead

   So William Hague would have just had to keep trying his luck in Wentworth and Jack Straw could only have fought Brentwood?

   June 23rd, 2011 at 10:22 am
9. Paul D

   Balls certainly manipulates his accent based on his audience. I’ve heard him interviewed on national TV slipping the “imaginary r” into words like chance, but on local TV using the norhern pronunciation.

   June 23rd, 2011 at 10:46 am
10. Shaun Bennett

    “You get plenty of Labour MP’s in particular with Northern/Scottish & Welsh accents representing seats in London – Frank Dobson for example”

    As I said upthread, its ‘chip on shoulder’ syndrome again isn’t it…or perhaps we’d be better off describing it as insecurity.

    Northern electorate’s are often so obsessed with class that they are naturally biased against local MPs that do not share a northern accent (although as Merseymike suggests, Liverpool West Derby is clearly uniquely immune to this factor). This shows an insecurity about themselves. It indicates that they may subconsiously feel inferior to people from the south (wrongly).

    Similarly, Scottish electorates will not generally tolerate MPs who originate from England as their local memebers. Again, it is linked to insecurity about themselves. They may subconsiously feel inferior to the English perhaps because their country is much smaller and dominated politically, economically and culturally by England (again in my view wrongly).

    In these cases, opposition to MPs without a northern accent or to non-Scot’s in Scotland is an expression of an identity that they feel is in some way under threat.

    By contrast, southerners do not on the whole feel their identity is threatened by northern or Scottish MPs as their local members. Indeed, why should they.

    Again, just some thoughts on the matter. I’m not saying that its necessarily correct. Just a theory.

    June 23rd, 2011 at 11:33 am
11. Pete Whitehead

    Liverpool West Derby isn’t even unique in Liverpool given Luciana Berger – a Jewish princess from London -managed to hold Wavertree with an increased majority. There are I think plenty of southerners representing northern seats and there have been several English MPs representing Scottish seats (though fewer than the other way around). I’m not aware of there ever being any particularly strong effect on voting patterns, but then I haven’t made done a study. It would be worthwhile to test a correlation between the origins of MPs in certain areas and the relative swings they enjoy to see if there is anything in your theory

    June 23rd, 2011 at 12:06 pm
12. Tim Jones

    How do you explain then Shaun the amount of southernern Tories representing Northern seats

    The local identity thing is a lot more important than it was and the Tories do now tend to pick local candidates when they are good enough – as do the other main parties – but in the past most Tory MPs representing northern constituencies used to have southern or BBC accents

    It’s less prenounced nowadays, primarily because the Tories have so few seats in the North – but I always notice how less prenounced people’s accents from the older generations are compared to today’s chav-speaking rabble

    June 23rd, 2011 at 12:25 pm
13. H.Hemmelig

    “I always notice how less prenounced people’s accents from the older generations are compared to today’s chav-speaking rabble”

    Surely that’s the wrong way round.

    Study after study shows that traditional distinct English accents are dying off – whether cockney, scouse, mancunian, brummie, yorkshire or whatever…

    …as the population which all watches the same crap on TV drifts all towards a dreadful estuary accent. Immigration has been a major factor as well.

    June 23rd, 2011 at 1:28 pm