The path from political journalist to MP is well-trodden but not without its problems

Two accomplished political journalists, Paul Waugh, 57, and Sebastian Payne, 34, have been trying to become MPs at the next election, so far without success.

Last weekend, Paul got on Labour’s three-person shortlist to be selected as prospective parliamentary candidate in his home town of Rochdale. Sebastian, who grew up in Tyne and Wear, made the final round to be the Conservative PPC in Selby and Ainsty. Neither of them got the nomination.

My admiration for the two’s journalism is great and sincere. I understand their urge for public service. But as a journalist, firmly in the impartial tradition of British broadcasting, I am always rueful when one of our number goes over to the other side. 

The path from covering politics as a journalist to becoming an MP is a well-trodden one. From Churchill and Horatio Bottomley to Boris Johnson and Esther McVey. From Ed Balls and Chris Mullin to Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg. From Michael Gove and Norman Fowler to Ben Bradshaw and Austin Mitchell.  From Brian Wilson to Ruth Davidson. From Bob Seely to Gloria De Piero. And not just in this country – Mussolini and Sarah Palin were both journalists before entering politics.

The going may well be getting harder though in this country. Both Paul and Sebastian have good local credentials. But they are not actually living in their home areas now because they have been working at Westminster. The journalist Michael Crick who is monitoring candidate selections for his @tomorrowssmps X feed says that being a truly local candidate is now the trump card, often to the cost of strong outside applicants. Paul had just days to win over local party members for the byelection following the death of Tony Lloyd MP. The successful candidate, in a seat with a 10,000 Labour majority, is the leader of the Labour group on Lancashire Council. Loyally and sportingly, Paul says Azhar Ali will be “a fabulous MP”.

Both Sebastian and Paul now call themselves “former” political journalists. Unlike many of our colleagues still plying their trade, neither of them displayed their political affiliations in their work. Sebastian resigned from the Financial Times to head the centrist Tory think tank Onward before looking for a seat. As he points out, Paul’s decision to go for the sudden vacancy surprised his fellow journalists and the politicians he has been reporting on for nearly thirty years. In his last piece as a commentator for the i newspaper, he cites texts from Conservative politicians: “I had no idea! Which is a tribute to your professionalism. Best of luck!” said one. “I’m genuinely pleased…to see a journalist commit himself to public service,” said another.

Paul writes that, “I felt I had to stop being a spectator and get on the pitch of public life”. In a message aimed at his old colleagues, he said he could no longer stand by and watch the deterioration of the NHS.

Specifics aside, he sums up the main impulse of most of those who make the transition: the desire to be a player. I have lost count of the politicians who, politely or impolitely, chide, “You lot carp on the sidelines, we actually do things.” Let us leave aside how much the average backbench MP, especially in opposition, can achieve beyond sorting out problems for some constituents. Let us ignore the constraints of the whip and collective responsibility which means even cabinet ministers have to advocate and vote for policies that they might consider “batsh*t crazy”. The doers do have a point over the sayers. 

My reply is that political journalism has a point too. We distil the arguments and circumstances so that the public can make up their own mind. In my opinion, that is most effective when there is no suspicion that we have a line to sell. Beyond that, our job of criticism and holding to account should only help the doers do it better. 

The sense of power is addictive. Martin Bell, the man in the white suit, was one journalist who stuck to his old principles. The well-known BBC correspondent was elected in 1997 as an Independent and sleaze-buster. Subsequently, his main regret was that he had given his electorate a pledge only to serve for one term. The journalist John Sweeney championed Bell’s campaign. Sweeney is now seeking to be adopted as a Liberal Democrat candidate. 

A majority of the crossovers join one of the two main parties. Print journalists tend to go to the Conservatives, perhaps reflecting the rightward preponderance in British newspapers. In modern times, the editor’s chair at The Spectator has given us a prime minister, Boris Johnson, and two chancellors of the Exchequer, Iain McLeod and Nigel Lawson. 

Even though he has not yet found a seat, Paul Waugh shows typically high principles in announcing that he has gone through a one-way door. He finds it “discombobulating and liberating at the same time to end my decades of impartiality” so “I won’t be going back to that job – it’s so important to uphold i’s reputation for trusted, non-partisan political reporting.” (Full disclosure: I too occasionally contribute to i.)

Not all news organisations are so scrupulous or, indeed, determinedly impartial. The explosion of digital and online outlets means that politicians are finding outlets to broadcast or write themselves. Those doing both – active as both elected politicians and as “presenticians” are doing both their occupations a disservice. It is different when the likes of Matthew Parris of The Times or my colleagues at Times Radio, Ed Vaisey and Ruth Davidson, go through the other one-way door from politics to the media.  

Journalists who really want to influence things should consider that there is another way which does not require the inconvenience of winning elections. Alastair Campbell jokingly dismisses his time as a journalist for The Mirror and Today newspaper as when he was merely “a part-time propagandist”. He got to do the job full-time for Tony Blair. The former BBC producer Sir Robbie Gibb is wielding notable political influence as a government-appointed member of the BBC board. Another BBC man, Sir Craig Oliver, was Prime Minister Cameron’s director of communications. 

Whether those moving between Westminster journalism and politics have high-minded intentions or simple ambition, they confuse the picture further for the viewer, listener, or reader. How should they view what they are consuming; as information or propaganda? The impression taken away is that journalists and politicians are all in it together. This is unfortunate and contributes to the low esteem in which both are held by the public, even if, as veteran lobby journalist Jon Craig points out, journalists trusted by just 21 per cent of the public are doing more than twice as well as politicians on 9 per cent.

For all that, I’m sorry that Paul Waugh and Sebastian Payne have not yet found a route into parliament. They are a loss to non-partisan political journalism and, on their different sides of the aisle, would both make thoughtful, diligent and well-informed MPs. Rather them than me.

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