Hearing the happy news that the Chancellor and his wife are expecting again has got me thinking. For so long we've all been under the illusion that if you're a slaphead you can't become PM. Hague, Kinnock, IDS all come to mind, don't they? But this is lazy thinking. I've finally cottoned on, it's nothing to do with that. It's all about the number of kids you've got. Let's have a look at the evidence...Tony Blair - 4 kids
Margaret Thatcher - 2 kids
David Cameron - 2 kids and another about to sprog
Winston Churchill - 5 kids
Harold Macmillan - 4 kids
James Callaghan - 3 kids
Michael Foot - no kids
Ted Heath - no kids
William Hague - no kids (yet)
Ok, OK, IDS has two and Kinnock had two, as did John Major. What is they say about the exception proving the rule? LOL. Now let's see how this rule works for the LibDems...
Jeremy Thorpe - 1 kid
David Steel - 3 kids
Paddy Ashdown - 2 kids
Charles Kennedy - 1 kid
And of the leadership contenders?
Mark Oaten - 2 kids
Menzies Campbell - 0 kids
Simon Hughes - 0 kids
So Campbell and Hughes don't stand a chance. But what's this? Wait for it... Chris Huhne has 5 kids! More money on Huhne then!
PS Nick Clegg would wish us to point out that he has 2 kids...
PPS Guido points out that Nick Clegg's website is down. To allow time for the words For and Leader to be inserted into the masthead possibly?
With 5 kids surely he won't have time to lead a political party? Even the lib dems.
ReplyDeleteLook at Ruth Kelly: 4 kids, not a clue what's going on in the DFES.
It's not very good for his green credentials either.
ReplyDeleteIDS has four children according to his website. I knew he would have been a huge electoral success! If only the MPs had given him a chance...
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if i'm wrong but didn't Churchill only have three children (2 daughters and a son)
ReplyDeleteIan - very good point
ReplyDeleteTom- you may well be right
anonymous - no, he had another daughter who died at birth
I think Guido's slaphead theory is more reliable on the whole.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, then maybe John Hemming should reconsider his decision to withdraw.
ReplyDeleteOne can only guess how many children he's got.
Churchill did have five children
ReplyDeleteDiana (married Duncan Sandys)
Sarah (alcoholic actress)
Randolph
Marigold (died in childhood)
Mary Soames
not sure if I've got them correctly in age order