Tom Skinner and the triumph of Essex Man
As a teenager, my first husband was an Essex Man. It ended badly – all my fault – but I still retain a fondness for the breed, who I associate with self-made can-do stoicism and optimism; the opposite of, say, Islington Man.
An Essex Man is being spoken of as the one to give the ghastly 'Sir' Sadiq Khan a run for his money
In recent decades, the county has become known as a glitzy, new-money Cheshire-on-Colne, due to the popular television show The Only Way Is Essex, a 'scripted reality' show in which a mutating cast of likely lads and luscious-lipped ladies make out and break up at bars and barbecues. The girls boast of a taste for Bad Boys with whom they have Steamy Romps, followed by Love Splits and Lonely Hells before Bouncing Back to Show Him What He's Missing while Flaunting Her Curves on a Sunshine Break To Dubai. They never saw a drink that wouldn't look better in a frenemy's face, or a swimming pool that couldn't be improved by pushing a love rat into; they backbite and backstab the way others say 'please' and 'thank you'. Of course I love it!
Towie has recently, and rather dismayingly, made a show of talking about Mental Elf issues, much to the detriment of the drama. But these kids aren't really snowflakes. They're the descendants of the actual Cockneys who were resettled in Essex after the destruction of the East End by the Luftwaffe. They inhabit the first hardcore working-class Conservative stronghold of post-war England; in the 2019 election, all 18 seats in the county were held by the Tories with absolute majorities. In the EU referendum, every one of Essex's 14 district councils voted Leave. During the previous century, Essex Man was shorthand for a disillusioned, working-class, traditionally Labour voter who switched to Mrs Thatcher's Conservatives. They did so because they felt that Labour had moved to the Loony Left and cared more about Gaza than Grays.
Of course Reform were always going to go big there. Nigel Farage himself has his constituency in Clacton-on-Sea. During his visits, he is mobbed by teenagers for selfies. A year after winning his seat, he remains wildly popular with constituents. You can't say that about many MPs.
Reform's success in Essex isn't just about Farage: last month in council by-elections, the party took a seat in Harlow and a couple more in Thurrock. But the hold of the Tories on Essex should not be underestimated; no less than Kemi Badenoch has her throne in North West Essex. It would make the heart of this blue-collar county swell to have an MP of their own become PM.
To make matters more interesting, an Essex Man is being spoken of as the one who might give the ghastly 'Sir' Sadiq Khan a run for his money, a phrase which conjures up for me the rampant fare-dodging which is one of the hallmarks of the ruined London Khan has presided over.
Tom Skinner was one of the hopefuls in series 15 of The Apprentice; I don't recall him, but that's probably because I'm always too busy drooling unattractively over my pin-up, Lord Sugar. Recently Skinner has taken to X bemoaning the state of the capital: 'Colder…more hostile. It's tense…London don't feel like London no more. The police ain't on the beat. The people are scared. I'm not giving up on it…I still believe in this gaff…but we need change…we need safety.'
Anyone can go on social media and moan that fings ain't what they used to be. But what makes this different is that Dominic Cummings reposted the above. He urged the 34-year-old Skinner to run against Khan in 2028 and offered the muscle of the old Vote Leave brigade as back-up.
This week, Kennedy went down a storm at a conference in Westminster when he spoke of his love for his country. Asked about whether he would run for London mayor, he told the Now & England conference: 'Anyone could do a better job that Sadiq Khan…we'll see what happens'.
The rapturous applause – and the fact that hatred of orthodox politicians in Britain is stronger than it's ever been – means he should certainly consider it. He's definitely got a little something going on that might well appeal to the thoroughly cheesed-off man in the London street. As Niall Gooch wrote in UnHerd:
'Skinner represents a clear contrast to the collapsing post-1997 consensus. He is not a graduate; he has not been formed in or by progressive institutions; he has no interest in the shibboleths of managed decline or conventional Blob thought. His is a commonsensical, man-of-the-people approach — in some respects he resembles Nigel Farage'.
Skinner might do well if he ran for mayor, for the simple reason that what public life lacks is Straightforward Men. Everywhere you look you can see male creatures slithering and sliding, obfuscating and liberty-taking, lying and why-o-why-ing; the resurgence of Alastair Campbell sums it up best, but you're spoilt for choice. In 2022, I wrote in this very magazine an essay called In Praise Of Straightforward Men in which I eulogised the I'm A Celebrity… contestant Mike Tindall: 'Tindall's air of calmness is so attractive that it seems neither here nor there that he looks quite like a potato.'
It's this quality of good-humoured resilience that we associate with Essex Man. But Tindall, who hails from Yorkshire, proves that you don't have to be born east of the capital to qualify; while the ghastly Jamie Oliver, with his ceaseless posturing and preening, proves that you can be born there and not necessarily be an Essex Man.
Tom Skinner recently made a video for X with Robert Jenrick, standing outside a pub talking about 'tool theft'. Apparently this is not as much fun as it sounds, but something which afflicts Ordinary Working People a great deal. The opportunistic air of the pairing would have once irritated me. But because the ghastly Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan are in charge at the moment, I felt warmly towards Skinner. Could he do worse than those two bozos? It's unlikely. Even if he doesn't, at least ordinary folk can recognise something of themselves in a man like Skinner.
Skinner even reminds me of my first husband a little, when he was in his robust and roseate youth. So yes, I'm all for Essex Man bringing his admirable qualities to our lawless and loveless capital. Vote Skinner!
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