1. Boris Johnson
2. BuzzFeed UK spoke to the creator of the tumblr to find out more about it.
Dirtypoliticsconfessions has about 2540 followers at the moment, which constantly surprises me. After all, fantasies about politicians aren't usually a lot of people's cup of tea.
Jasmin has a few ideas about why so many people fantasise about politicians:
In trying to answer why people fantasise about politicians I can only draw on some observations I have made and can't speak for everyone, obviously. I've heard it said that the power of a politician is a turn on for people and for some people and some politcians this is certainly true.
What's interesting is that it often seems to depends on the public persona of the politician: someone who is portrayed as very forceful is likely to attract fantasies that focus on that element, while someone with a softer side inspires more fantasies around that part.
However, she doesn't think that the concept of a politician as just a projection screen for fuzzy fantasies of domination or submission holds true in most confessions she sees. The tumblr submissions show many attempts to engage with the subject seriously by focusing on personal attributes like their passions, and interests, and their flaws.
My best guess is that it is a combination of the availability of the image (tv, newspapers), a physical attraction (confessions feature things like someone's hands, thighs, eyes or mouth) and an intellectual attraction (perceived shared interests and values).
The first and second element tends to be the case in most celebrity fantasies but the third one gives it another dimension and sets these fantasies about politicians apart from ordinary celebrity fantasies I would say.
The most fancied politicians in the UK.
"The Conservatives are the party with the most fanciable members; they have confessions about 32 different people."
Labour are a close second with confessions about 30 different people. (Which also surprised me because a lot of people from the UK politics side of tumblr are openly Labour and Conservative supporters can be counted on almost one hand.)
3. George Osborne
4. Nigel Farage
5. David Cameron
6. Brooks Newmark, Conservative MP for Braintree
7. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling
8. Alex Salmond
9. Alastair Darling, Labour MP for Edinburgh South West
10. Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda
11. Andy Burnham, Labour MP for Leigh
12. Ed Miliband
13. William Hague, Secretary of State and Angelina Jolie
14. Jeremy Vine
15. Jeremy Hunt, Conservative MP for South West Surrey
16. Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor
17. David Cameron
18. Alastair Campbell, former Director of Communications for Tony Blair
19. Nick Clegg
20. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP for North East Somerset
21. Ed Balls
22. Huw Davies, Labour MP for Ogmore
23. Jamie Reed, Labour MP for Copeland
24. Peter Mandelsohn, former Labour Secretary of State for the department of business, innovation and skills
25. Margaret Thatcher
26. Yvette Cooper, Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford.
27. Chris Huhne, former Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh
28. Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire
29. Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter
30. Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury
31. David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1908-1915
32. William Gladstone, Prime Minister 1868–74, 1880–85, February–July 1886 and 1892–94
33. Jeremy Browne, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton Deane
34. George Osborne
35. Michael Heseltine, Conservative politician
36. David Cameron
37. Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East
38. Boris Johnson
