Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully's partner writes about Sue Bradford

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Personality plus

By JANE CLIFTON - Politics Column, The Listener | 10-16 October 2009



Sue Bradford's abrupt resignation from Parliament was a cause of much malignant celebration among social conservatives. Seldom has a politician attracted so much vitriol, without the countervailing adulation we usually see with polarising public figures.

People who support the anti-smacking legislation tend to champion the legislation rather than Bradford herself. People who oppose the legislation regard her as the even eviler sister of Cruella de Vil.

It seems unfair that this hard-working, sincere MP, who has never once been guilty of personality politics or cheap shots of any kind, should be such a hate figure. It seems to be down to that critical difference politicians maintain between person and persona.

In person, Bradford is a good-humoured, light-hearted, smart, kindly woman — the sort you'd have a jolly good natter with if you got stuck next to her on a plane.

Her public manner is totally different. She comes across as mulish, joyless and rather lumpen.

How is this possible?

Why do some politicians make themselves seem less likeable than they really are? It's a handicap many have, that they simply cannot convey their authentic selves in public. An automatic switch goes on, and they become a stodgier or haughtier version of themselves. Judith Tizard was a chronic sufferer. Phil Goff is another. In person he's a lively, witty, dry-humoured, informal sort of chap. In sound-bite-land, he's robotic, repetitive and frowningly dogmatic.

Sometimes, people's misleading personas serve them well. Few voters ever saw the relaxed, giggly, gossipy Helen Clark who existed behind the scenes. They would have liked this Helen a lot, but for the best part of nine years, most were perfectly satisfied with the rather dour, careful, dry Helen who was offered for public consumption.

It's a pity about Bradford, who for her integrity and her work rate is a big loss to Parliament. But it's nice to think that some MPs are impervious to spin doctors' media training efforts.

• Jane Clifton is a long-time journalist for the Dominion and Dominion-Post newspapers, a former Parliamentary Press Gallery journalist, political commentator for The Listener and other Fairfax publications, and long-time partner of National MP and current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully.