Gemma Garrett: The body politic

Belfast's Gemma Garrett (26) is the Beauties For Great Britain candidate in tomorrow's crucial Crewe by-election — but she's no bimbo. Gráinne McCarry finds out more

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Now, almost three weeks into her campaign, the buxom blonde beauty queen is exhausted. Still, Gemma is nothing if not bubbly and is soon enthusing: " Things have been going really fantastic. I've been getting up every morning at 7am and on the go until 2am the following day as we are canvassing in nightclubs as well.

"I've learned so much and I can say, hand on heart, I'm a totally different person than I was when I started out on May 1."

A candidate for the newly formed Beauties For Britain party, Gemma reveals that being on the campaign trail had taught her not to stereotype other people.

"It's something I feel very strongly about as it has happened to me so much along the way," she says. "I've been stereotyped as a blonde bimbo and I feel no one is taking me seriously because I'm a beauty queen. I know how it feels and it can be very hurtful. It has taught me not to judge people."

Gemma admits she was left fuming after she was "verbally attacked" while out canvassing by a middle-aged Labour campaigner.

Recalling the incident, she says now: "She might have been mature in age, but she certainly wasn't mature in her attitude.

"She said that I was a disgrace and I was degrading women. She asked me could I spell 'Britain'."

Gemma says she simply walked away from the woman, but doesn't miss the chance to score a political point, adding that she "couldn't understand why the biggest political party in Britain could allow their campaigners to speak to other candidates like that".

So far, says Gemma, the only party that has acknowledged her while out canvassing has been the Liberal Democrats — an attitude that she finds perplexing: "We're all human beings. I can't understand why we can't speak to each other and have a chat. I could tell them what I thought of their issues and how they could improve them and they could offer me advice too."

"Besides, why shouldn't beautiful women be celebrated? I know for a fact that if I wasn't a beauty queen I would be taken 10 times more seriously."

And that, of course, is Gemma's problem in a nutshell — her image. Before standing for election, she was best known for her saucy underwear snaps which appeared in various tabloid newspapers. We're chatting on Monday, just hours after sexy new snaps of her in Ann Summers underwear have appeared across the front page of a national tabloid.

But Gemma puts on a, ahem, bold front as regards her critics. "That has nothing to do with this. I'm a lingerie model — that is my work. I'm paid to do that. I don't see what it has got to do with this. The two are totally separate."

She continues: "If people who read those papers take notice of my campaign because of that then it's not a bad thing.

"I've been deliberately targeting the 18-30 age-group. I've been really shocked at how many of them don't vote — about 75% of the people I was talking to — and at how many don't know whether they are registered. Many couldn't tell me who the Prime Minister is."

Cynics have likened Gemma's attempt to storm the corridors of power at Westminster as nothing more than a thinly veiled PR stunt, aimed at little more than raising her profile.

But Gemma denies this. "I want to use Miss Great Britain as a soap box to voice my opinion.

"When I won the title I decided that I wanted to do something different. I didn't want to be just a glamour girl."

Indeed, it was Robert de Keyser, chairman of the beauty pageant, who suggested that she run in the by-election.

She explains: "He said if you're really serious about those issues why don't you go for it and try to make a difference." She admits openly that the odds are against her. "I don't expect to win," she says. " But, by standing I hope to put pressure on the other candidates and hopefully they will take the issues I'm raising on board."

A former student of Bloomfield Collegiate School, Gemma is proud of having 10 GCSEs, C grade and above. She first entered the modelling world in her teens when she won Miss Ulster in 1999 at just 17. She went on to complete a diploma in applied science at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown and says she most likely would have become a nurse if her modelling career hadn't been so successful.

"I never aspired to be a politician, although I'm very well educated in the politics of Northern Ireland."

However, quite the diplomat, she doesn't want to discuss that for fear that anyone would think she favours one side over the other.

"I feel that if you want something to be done then this is the road to go down. Even if people don't vote for me, if I can just get them out of their houses to vote, that would be an achievement."

Close to Gemma's heart is the issue of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her two cousins are soldiers in the Army. One is currently serving in Afghanistan and the other spent time in Iraq.

She adds: "I was chatting to an ex-soldier when I was out campaigning. When they come home from war there's nothing for them either. No counselling, nothing. He went to his doctor and he was given anti-depressants.

"He was telling me some of the things that are happening out there. The soldiers are so poorly equipped that once they shoot an Iraqi dead, they take his blood soaked uniform from his body, his boots and his AK47. I was so so shocked. Why are we sending soldiers out to those conditions?"

She goes on to speculate that maybe war has been glamorised to attract young men into joining the fight.

"Maybe they think that if they go out and fight they will become heroes, but the reality is they have to shoot and bomb people and people are going to shoot them."

However, when questioned more closely about the war Gemma is quick to sit on the fence by saying:

"I'm not saying I'm pro-war, but it's obvious they need to be helped. I don't want to discuss my views on war."

She adds: "I feel that if you want something to be done then politics is the road to go down.

"Even if people don't vote for me, if I can get them out of their houses to vote that would be an achievement."

So, how much does Gemma know about politics? We find out ...

Who is the Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Oh ... I'm not sure. The next generation coming up aren't interested in politics and it's up to them to raise their profile among young people. The majority of young people don't read The Times or the Guardian."

(Correct answer: Alistair Darling)

Where did Cherie Blair reveal in her new autobiography that her youngest son Leo was conceived?

Balmoral. (Correct)

Who is the Foreign Secretary?

Pauses for a while. Doesn't know.

(Correct answer: David Miliband)

Who is the new leader of the DUP?

"I don't want to answer any questions on Northern Ireland."

(Correct answer: Peter Robinson)

Who is the Northern Ireland Education Minister?

"I'd prefer not to answer any questions on Northern Ireland as my family live there."

(Correct answer: Caitriona Ruane)