It’s not every day that you get an MP facing up to a celebrity obsession, unless you count anyone who regards Boris Johnson a mate. But today Ann Soubry, a defence minister, has shown just how modern appreciation of celebrity goes down these days by admitting she hate-follows Kim Kardashian’s every traceable step. ‘I’m obsessed with Kim Kardashian, I do try to find out what Kim’s up to,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, ‘I think she's the most appalling role model.’
Why? ‘This is somebody who young girls, women apparently have a role model to aspire to who has got a body that in my opinion is not a normal body.’
Oof. Though it seems like last month’s revelation of that magazine cover heralded our duty to defend Kim Kardashian, the time seems to have come to defend her and her fans.
One: Kim’s body totally normal for a lot of women who just don’t get to see a body like theirs anywhere in mainstream media. Two: people don’t only aspire to look like her – in fact, she’s getting a lot of new fans every time she lets criticism just glide right off of her. Her resilience is pretty aspirational.
Soubry later used her interview to talk some sense on immigration, reports The Telegraph. She criticised David Cameron’s announcement that immigrants wouldn’t be able to claim benefits (including in-work benefits) for four years. ‘I want to know and understand why my Prime Minister, who I have huge amounts of respect for and has done an outstanding job, I want to know why he has come to that conclusion.’
‘Is that the real problem – that people might be able to claim benefits? There’s a danger that you create false fear and prey to people’s prejudices.’
Ah, see, now Soubry's got us on-side. We figure if she puts policy ahead of pop culture, she’s probably doing her job right, anyway.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.