The Purdy Connection

"Why," a friend has just asked, "is it ok for Joanna Lumley to front the Gurkha campaign?" I presume he asked because he has so often heard me rant about the ridiculousness of celebrity-led campaigning. Reports of Sharon Stone declaring that she would kiss anyone to bring peace to the Middle East or Mia Farrow going on hunger strike for the people of Darfur throw me into a rage. But Lumley works for a number of reasons. First, she has a real link to the cause for which she fights (her father served with the Gurkhas). Second she is no "pop in if poss" campaigner, she has been working on this campaign for years. Third, she connects. That is what campaign communications is all about. She connects with her audience - politicians, judges and generals who are going to make the decisions as well as the public. To the likes of Gordon Brown, the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee and indeed male readers of the Daily Telegraph, she will always be Purdy, gorgeous, sexy Purdy who was always on the right side. (Perhaps a clue as to why GB met her alone.). But that doesn't put off women, we like her because she took the mickey out of herself, her glamour and her beauty in Ab Fab. Fourth, she is clever and canny. Her doorstep after the meeting with Steed, I mean Brown, was pure genius - "I trust him . . . I know he will do what is right".

In the midst of all these unpalatable revealations about moat cleaning, trouser presses and flipping, maybe those calling for her to be PM aren't so mad.