I met Anna Arrowsmith last Monday at the House of Lords. It was International Women’s Day and we both attended an event entitled “Achieving Equality in
Parliament.â€
During question time, Anna’s hand shot up. “I’m the first ever parliamentary candidate from the porn industry. I’ve just been selected for the Liberal Democrats.â€
There was a stunned silence as everyone turned to look at her. She repeated it, and said she was involved with adult movies (her question was about the selection of candidates). Some of the audience smiled and nodded, while others still appeared confused about this unexpected declaration. Anna was so excited about being selected, she was thrilled about it, and she really seemed to enjoy the evening.
At the end of the meeting, I immediately dashed over to Anna to get her contact details and arranged to interview her about a project I am working on with women MPs and candidates; I am speaking to her next week. At the time I felt I needed to stay mum about the very liberal Anna for my project, but I realised it was a very hot story and that it would arouse tremendous media interest. Sex and politics? It’s a dream combination for editors.
Of course, it’s now all over the national press, with headlines such as, “From porn to parliament,†and, “The woman who is sexing up Lib Dems.†Anna is clearly revelling from her mass media coverage. Her picture is on the front of today’s Times and she has a full page coverage inside the paper too where she explains her political beliefs and work.
She is going to have to perform miracles as Lib Dems trail in the constituency she is contesting, but it will be interesting to see whether she can make a difference in the Tory-held Gravesham seat. In 2005 Adam Holloway secured 19,739 votes. Labour was a close second with 19,085 votes and Liberal Democrats languished third with a lacklustre 4,851.
What do you think? Would you vote for Anna?
I guess the important thing is whether she is STILL in the porn industry as well as a candidate!
Would I vote for her , no way.
Heard her on Radio 4 .
Dreadful common accent and liberal thinking .
Porn seems oh so fine and dandy when spouted out by the chattering classes doesnt it but the reality is very different .
Just think of the effects on people less intelligent and able to laugh it all off as ” just part of life ” .
Think of all the cases of horrific rape and sexual abuse we read every day of the week in the national press where time after time the court hears of the accused being addicted to porn and horror movies , and then has gone on to play out these fantasies for real .
This is not a woman Id be choosing to meet up with Ellee.
[…] Anna Arrowsmith in The Observer explains in a fascinating article why she has made the career move from being Britain’s first female porn director to become a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate. She is on a mission to reform Parliament for women in the same way she did the porn industry, or as she puts it: “here I am again thinking that another male-dominated field needs challenging.” [Incidentally, friend of this blog Ellee Seymour met Anna last week, and has an interesting assessment of her.] […]
I’ll never vote Lib Dem – I’d rather vote Labour.
I couldn’t vote for Anna anyway unless she changed her support for porn.
It seems the Lib Dems have given up on morality. I doubt this will play well with their former Christian and Muslim voters.
No problem with the porn, but on the evidence of Radio 4 she’s as dumb as a stump (and a Lib Dem, to be tautologous.)
I was in Spain when this news broke and so this is the first place I have seen it. I look forward to seeing your report of your interview with her.
I can’t say without knowing more about her but I might. At least she’s seen a bit of life!
Adam’s a mate of mine and an excellent MP
W.W. I thought he might be!
nope…
International Women’s Day overshadowed Commonwealth Day. I think we sometimes ignore the Commonwealth at our peril.
[…] Anna Arrowsmith in The Observer explains in a fascinating article why she has made the career move from being Britain’s first female porn director to become a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate. She is on a mission to reform Parliament for women in the same way she did the porn industry, or as she puts it: “here I am again thinking that another male-dominated field needs challenging.†[Incidentally, friend of this blog Ellee Seymour met Anna last week, and has an interesting assessment of her.] […]
[…] biggest regret is not breaking the news about porn film maker Anna Arrowsmith being selected as a Lib Dem candidate in the 2010 general election as I was researching a book on […]