Politics & Power Quote by Roy Hattersley

Ridicule is the one weapon politics can’t spin away. Hattersley’s line cuts against the usual pundit obsession with “extremes” as the main threat, arguing that the real career-killer is looking absurd. Extremism can be reframed as conviction, authenticity, even courage; it offers a story supporters can admire and opponents can fear. Ridiculousness, by contrast, collapses the story. It turns power into pantomime and drains a platform of seriousness, because voters may forgive harshness or radicalism, but they rarely invest trust in a figure who can’t be taken straight.

The subtext is about legitimacy. Democratic politics runs on a shared agreement that the people in charge are, at minimum, competent adults. When a politician becomes a punchline, they don’t just lose an argument; they lose the basic presumption that their words should matter. Mockery is socially contagious, easier to spread than policy critique, and it crosses tribal lines: you can still respect an extremist’s discipline, but you don’t rally behind a clown unless the whole project is to treat governance as entertainment.

Hattersley, a Labour grandee shaped by Britain’s postwar seriousness and parliamentary decorum, is also issuing an insider’s warning about image discipline. In a media ecosystem that rewards spectacle, ridiculousness is tempting as a shortcut to attention. He’s saying attention isn’t authority. Once you’re ridiculous, every position you take is heard through laughter, and laughter is the one reaction you can’t legislate, negotiate, or whip into submission.