Ealing's Comedian Politicians
Rupa Huq takes to the stage with Andy Parsons but won't be changing career...just yet
Ealing North MP Steve Pound is normally regarded the joker of the politician pack but it seems Ealing Central and Acton 's Rupa Huq is also getting a taste for comedy.
Rupa was a declared a hit when she performed at “Stand Up for Labour” at Questors theatre Ealing in the Autumn going beyond her remit of introducing the next act to doing a mini-routine and following she was then asked to tread the boards with stand-up Andy Parsons at the Soho Theatre.
She said it came just before the election when she feared she could lose her seat.
Rupa remarked, “I was genuinely flattered to have been asked as other politicians in the series had been pretty famous like ex deputy PM Nick Clegg – mind you he’s no longer an MP. ''Interestingly it looks like Clegg did his turn during the election campaign which I declined as I was in the fight of my life. Clegg probably assumed quite erroneously he’d be safety re-elected.''
The House of Commons is often akin to a rough comedy bear-pit so maybe the two aren’t all that far removed from one another.
Rupa commented “We now have a zombie government. They are in office but with their majority gone not in power. Their flagship policies including the dementia tax (which fell apart at the seams in Ealing when Theresa May was televised haplessly trying to sell it on a doorstep), the reintroduction of grammar schools and bringing back foxhunting have all collapsed. Ditto some stuff that looked quite good like the 25 year plan for the environment – might materialise in 25 years! With this hapless government the jokes write themselves.”
Could the joint comedy experience of Questors in west London and the Soho theatre in the west end lead to more?
Rupa told us “It was good fun but my constituents – some of whom were in the audience – always come first. Rest assured I won’t be giving up the day job.”
8 August 2017