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`DON'T IT OVERDO
—-R A 1111
GEORGE'
them about politics and politicians. But both have strong views on the subject
`ROY Hattersley! God Almighty, he's a born loser!' said George, pouring me a cup of tea. (Mr Hattersley, reviewing for the Daily Express this month's South Bank Show, devoted to Gilbert and George, had concluded that such air-time was unjusti- fied `unless it was intended for psychia- trists who specialise in self-obsession'.) George continued, `He said that if this is art, then he's happy to say that he's a philistine. And then he came up with typi- cal left-wing Stalinist rubbish — that the documentary was more suitable for psychi- atrists. This is like the Soviet Union. They don't put you in prison, they put you in a mental home!' Gilbert and George have no time for ideology. `We want nil: a free market and not too much politics,' Gilbert told me. `We want administration — keep the roads going, and some public lavato- ries,' specified George, `and leave the rest to us. Privatise Westminster. You and I do at night what we want without asking cen- tral government.'
While they are keen on a free market in Europe, they are wary of the European superstate. `The art world was the Euro- Pean Community before there was one,' said George. `We think a club is something you join because there's table tennis and you can take a shower. You don't join it not to do things, you join it for the extras.' Gilbert admitted that he was `terrified' by the threat of German and French domi- nance in the European Union. `Whenever there's a Europhilia show,' explained George, 'you get forms saying that no work of art can be more than three times the width and double the breadth. It's like reading the postal regulations. They would say what the medium and the subjects should be, given the chance.' * ,Gilbert and George are ardent Tories. They believe that the Conservative Party is responsible for injecting new energy into BritiO art. `Maybe the Conservative Gov- ernment has created an anarchistic envi- ronntent where it can flourish,' mused GilbIrt. `They have created an atmosphere where everyone is fighting for his own little olaisitingf Gilbert and George believe that only capitalistic systems work for art. The art has to be worth something,' insisted Gilbert. 'If somebody loves a work of art, then it has a value.' Subsidies are danger- ous because they create an artificial mar- ket. 'In France, they poured money into the arts and killed off the art scene. Can you name one living French artist?' George asked me.
`And we remember art under Labour. It was a disaster. There were three stuck-up galleries which showed 90 per cent foreign art and that was it. You taught for 20 years, you became a Sir and then you drank your- self to death because you couldn't become an-artist.' It is not only the art world that has benefited from Tory policy. `Britain's never been better off, not in our lifetime,' George declared. `All the young people in Bethnal Green used to be so tribalistic in the Seventies, you couldn't walk there. Now they've all got a tin of Coke, a pizza and a Walkman and they don't trouble you. They go to America on holiday — it's extravagant.' They do feel that more could be done to lighten the taxpayer's load. `We think grad- uation in tax is very unfair. They should have a flat rate tax of ten pence to the pound for everyone.' While they believe in structures to support the most disadvan- taged, they object to total dependence on the state. `Every time somebody wets them- selves on the sofa, they can get a new one the next day,' George complained. `They never put anything into society in their whole life — it's just getting, getting, get- ting. All those benefits should be cut.' `Don't overdo it, George,' warned Gilbert, who goes on to explain how lower taxes would mean more collectors to buy their work, and more money for them to employ young people, thereby lifting the burden on the state. George continued passionately on the subject of tax: 'I think there's nothing more immoral than inheri- tance tax. It's just robbery. You die, and you're taxed afterwards — it's appalling. Even VAT I think is highly immoral.'
They also happen to be 'very strong monarchists' because 'the monarchy is out- side the system. Nothing to do with Left or Right.' They feel the royal family is impor- tant to Britain both symbolically and finan- cially. 'Everyone is a monarchist,' claimed Gilbert. 'Even Russia is Queen-mad.' George agreed: 'If they could find a baby tsar, they'd have him.' George thinks Prince Charles is 'gorgeous'. 'Imagine the alternative. They'd probably put in some awful trade unionist. They always have to choose some twit, because it has to be somebody who's never had an affair, and it has to be somebody straight with two kids who are not dope fiends. A hereditary monarchy is much better.'
When it comes to elected posts, George is practical. 'We tell all our young friends, if you went into hospital and they said to you, "Well, here's the normal team to sort it out, and we've got this other team who haven't worked for 18 years," would you like those instead?' Gilbert never votes: `I'm not English.' But when I asked him about Tony Blair, he lowered his voice to a horrified whisper: 'Ghastly! To me the Labour Party are totally obsessed by power. And I never saw somebody [Blair] so obsessed. In every smile . ' Here he does his impression of Blair as crazed junkie: `I need it. Get it!'
Both Gilbert and George were huge Thatcher fans and loyal to the end. 'Every Tory hated her because she was dictatorial.' Gilbert said sadly. `They wanted someone like John Major, who was not like that. He's the best Prime Minister of our life- time,' George waxed lyrical. 'He's such a nice, normal, decent English person. Even to be called John Major is extraordinary.' `Why should one change now? Major is a young person,' said Gilbert. `He's more popular than his party,' George continued. 'And the Labour Party is more popular than the leader.' `We don't like Michael Howard,' Gilbert added.
`If John Major was standing for Labour, it would be a landslide victory,' George observed.
`We don't like Michael Howard, he's appalling,' repeated Gilbert. `Too old-fashioned. Not a modern Tory,' George concurred. `He would lock everybody up,' explained Gilbert.
George 'firmly predicts' that there will be a Conservative victory. If not, the country's fate is unsure. On the one hand, they believe that everything 'Tory Blair' says Is `more or less Toryfied'. George noted, 'The Left are the best people for reversing, because you can't blame the devil for being devilish.' But it is likely that the reality will be more sinister. 'The next day they will scratch at Blair, his colleagues,' said Gilbert. George agreed. 'They'll say, "Look, we've done as you told us. We shut up to get you in, now let's have our stuff."' Either way, the artists see little room for improvement after 15 years of Tory rule: `Why change?' How can it be better? That's what we say. And that's it.'
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