David Cameronspare us your passion for darts, please

By Sarah Crompton Published: 5:48PM GMT 19 Feb 2010

Comments 4 | Comment on this article

There are months to go until the general election, and I am already losing the will to live as the politicians parade their personalities across the media.

Last week, Gordon Brown sent me into despair with his appearance on Piers Morgan"s show. This week, David Cameron has chosen to prove his credentials as Prime Minister by telling the lads" freesheet ShortList that he loves darts.

Women, wear your wrinkles with pride Simn Bolvar Youth Orchestra - Festival Hall, review Classic motorsport: 10th Goodwood Circuit Revival Judge bans paedophile who abused girl, 11, from taking Viagra on NHS David Cameron had better beware the Righties Norwich by-election: your verdict please

I am sorry, but I simply don"t see David cheering on Phil "the Power" Taylor or that bloke who dresses like Dracula and whose name I can"t remember. I can"t believe that elegant kitchen in Notting Hill echoes to cries of "one hundred and eighty".

This, like Gordon Brown"s once avowed passion for the Arctic Monkeys, is clearly a ploy to make him appealing to voters. But even if it weren"t so transparent, would it really work? Character and judgment are infinitely more important qualities in politics than personality and interests.

I just don"t know where this obsession with the personal has sprung from. History tells us that Churchill drank too much and Harold Macmillan had a terrible time with his wife. But most people would still judge them good politicians and fine Prime Ministers.

Yet our current leaders persist in holding up their perfect personalities for inspection, seeking to persuade us of their probity and likeability. On the day that the community in Teesside seeks to come to terms with the mothballing of the Corus steel plant another nail in the coffin of British industry an affection for darts and Guinness seems staggeringly irrelevant.