Nadine Dorries to Enter The Jungle
But are we really that interested?
Given the news that Nadine Dorries is all set to enter I'm a Celebrity, I was intrigued to see how interested we actually are in what she does, who she is, etc - by examining how we search for her in search engines.
So, I took the data-set I compiled for the BBC, and started digging around.
How Popular is Nadine Dorries?
If we look at searches for Nadine Dorries, William Hague and Michael Gove over the one-year time period 11/06/2011 to 09/06/2012, we see that Michael Gove is searched for most, closely followed by Nadine Dorries, with William Hague struggling in third:
| Cluster of Searches for MP | No. Searches During 11/06/2011 - 09/06/2012 |
|---|---|
| michael gove | 42,549 |
| nadine dorries | 42,412 |
| william hague | 11,337 |
Google Trends sadly doesn't allow us to match those exact dates, but according to their data for 2012 (different data-set, different timescales), we see that Nadine Dorries is doing at least as well as William Hague:
Not bad for a backbench MP, not great for the Foreign Secretary:
So on the face of it, people do actually seem somewhat interested in Nadine Dorries.
What Actually Peaked Our Interest?
If we look at the searches over a year (11/06/2011 - 09/06/2012), we can see that there were two peaks around the April 23rd & May 5th-6th time periods. It's not hard to work out what they are:
- On April 23rd '12, she calls David Cameron and George Osborne "two arrogant posh boys who don't know the price of milk" (see BBC News and The Telegraph)
- On May 5th she warns David Cameron that he could be replaced within a year (see Daily Mail, and a day later George Osborne labels Nadine Dorries a "serial rebel" (as opposed to a "cereal rebel" which would have been more amusing) on the Andrew Marr show.
But What Did We Actually Search For?
Week Ending April 28th 2012: (when she calls Cameron and Osborne "posh boys")
| Total No. of Queries | Search Expression |
|---|---|
| 8,888 | nadine dorries |
| 101 | 'nadine dorries' |
| 506 | nadine dorries mp |
| 393 | nadine dorries affair |
| 296 | nadine dorries ukip |
| 278 | nadine dorries andrew selous seat selection |
| 264 | nadine dorries wiki |
| 101 | nadine dorries boundary changes |
| 101 | nadine dorries up |
| 101 | nadine dorries parliament |
| 101 | nadine dorris frustrated |
| 101 | nadine dorries cleavage |
| 101 | nadine dorries abortion |
| 101 | nadine dorries reality tv |
| 101 | nadine dorries cameron |
| 101 | nadine dorries constituency home property |
| 101 | nadine dorries home town |
| 101 | nadine dorries storms out of pmqs |
Week Ending May 12th 2012: (when she warns Cameron and has spat with Osborne)
| Total No. of Queries | Search Expression |
|---|---|
| 8,621 | nadine dorries |
| 611 | nadine dorries affair |
| 468 | nadine dorries mp |
| 221 | nadine dorries daughter |
| 209 | nadine dorries gay marriage |
| 58 | nadine dorries photographs |
| 58 | nadine dorries image |
| 58 | nadine dorries equal marriage |
| 58 | nadine dorries boyfriend |
| 58 | nadine dorries plastic surgery |
| 58 | nadine dorries face lift |
Clearly the dominant search demand is searches for Nadine Dorries just by her name, and the remaining search demand ... well, it doesn't reflect well upon the searching public. But equally there's very little demand during these peaks for what she actually said during these weeks, you'd have thought there would be something for "posh boys" at least. Additionally, there's also very little interest in her policies.
Will this End Well?
So, how will her trip to The Jungle actually play out? Will it raise interest in her as an MP with ideals and beliefs close to her heart? Will people flock to find more? Looking at the above, it will almost certainly raise her profile, but it will be accompanied by a whole bunch of searches relating to her personal life, as opposed to her beliefs. I wonder if she really wants that.