Dancing Through the Corridors of Power

By TOMMY HOLGATE

Baby steps . . . I'll start with some basic footwork in the morning, then take it low prior to PMQs 

It's a complicated story that I may detail more another time, but, late in 2014, I ended up in the semi-final of Arabs Got Talent.
It was part of a dancing double act [my partner being Tunisian] into which I had been brought in as a last minute replacement, but sour relations between the other two parties meant legal complications and a consequent dropout from the show.
But while this was happening [it involved a 56-hour round-trip journey to Beirut, which comprised full day of filming and live performance in front of a 500-seater auditorium] I was also tweeting about peaceful politics as it was days after David Cameron sanctioned air strikes in Syria.
I was also pulling in evening shifts as a production editor on The Sun's tablet edition.
That golden 'Dancer-Politician-Journalist' occupational triad.
I wasn't sure which ones to focus on next.
I had been fancying a change of scenery following a decade of on-and-off red top reportage, so said to Dad one night: "I think I'll be moving home to pursue The Peace Party. What do you reckon?
He said: "But you have always wanted to be a dancer though, and maybe Arabs Got Talent could be a final throw of the dice?"
He's right, as I'm nearly 30. While age is but a number, in the realm of physical performance, it pays to have youth on your side.
"Yeah, but I was thinking about incorporating dancing into the politics," I replied, "I'm getting my Exercise To Music certificate soon and will be teaching at the local leisure centre. I could pledge to teach dance for free in schools and stuff."
"You could be a dancing politician," said Dad.
And that was that.
I am now comfortable answering the question of 'what do you do?'
The nature of the dance I enjoy to exhibit is 'experimental street freestyle', which is a fairly new category found in dance championships and so on.
Here is an example of a recent video I recorded. Incidentally it was filmed on the roof terrace of The Sun newspaper's News UK building in the final weeks before my departure. I would go out there in between double shifts and do tai chi, while surrounding the area with crystals in a bid to bless Rupert Murdoch's private office, asking that he may feel the love of humanity.

I've heard people say: 

"You won't get disco-focussed MPs moonwalking through the House of Commons for love nor money."

But maybe one day we could. With a little bit of either.

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