British author Martin Amis.Randy Quan
So the Tories may be the party of the hunting brigade with double-barrelled surnames, and Labour hangs on to the truculent trade-union vote (minus one "bigoted" pensioner in Rochdale), so where does the support for the newly powerful Liberal Democrats come from?
From a tiny, threadbare but loud-mouthed rump, it seems: the country's writers. As I was interviewing Martin Amis this week (an interview that will appear in full in the Globe in May), I asked him about his decision to abstain from voting in this election. In his characteristic drawl, he said: "I think I might now. I was going to miss [the election]but I like the idea of there being three parties, stirs things up. I would vote for [Nick] Clegg. I was going to abstain and I could never vote Tory. But now there's a third leftish party."
This was on the same day that a group of well-known novelists, scientists and philosophers wrote a letter to the Guardian outlining their support for the Lib Dems, who stand a good chance of playing kingmaker in a minority government. The letter, signed by novelists John le Carre, Philip Pullman and Jeanete Winterson, musician Brian Eno and scientist Richard Dawkins, among others, reads: "The question is where the energy for the future of progressive politics is to be found. It is a contemporary political fact that the stronger the performance of the Liberal Democrats on 6 May the better the chances of progressive reform."
Celebrity endorsement in the UK is not nearly the giant blunderbuss that is in the U.S. On the presidential trail, Obama had Bruce Springsteen and Oprah on his side, and Scarlett Johansson singing sweet nothings in a campaign tune. Here, the Tories have to make do with Bryan Ferry and Joan Collins and a host of television presenters you've never heard of (and neither has half the country.) Labour has in its camp Sir Alex Ferguson, the tough, plain-spoken manager of Manchester United, who is famous for once having thrown a soccer shoe at David Beckham's head.
But the Lib Dems, with their charismatic, polyglot leader Nick Clegg, seem to be seizing the Cool Britannia label that helped Tony Blair's Labour party rise to power in 1997, with the support of pop stars and actors (most of whom can't speak his name now without almost choking on their rage.)
But the best part of the election may be Phil Collins' promise (or threat) to return to the UK after self-imposed tax exile, should the Tories win. This has led to the Facebook group, "Vote Labour or Phil Collins will return to the UK." Membership is still open.
(Photo of Martin Amis by Randy Quan for The Globe and Mail)