“The aim is to always cut out the noise”: Making politics simple with Tatton Spiller

Over the last five years, Simple Politics (SP) has assumed an important role in debunking political myths and delusions. Founded by Tatton Spiller, he explains how politics can be made easy to understand.

UK Politics has been spiralling out of control. Brexit, elections, lockdowns, and all things Covid-19. The need for clarity has never been more prominent.

Simple Politics was created by Tatton Spiller, a former teacher who saw that people didn’t always understand Brexit, and now has a combined following of over 750K across Facebook and Instagram.

“(Politics on social media) didn't exist and I thought there was such a gap between political reporting and what people really needed to engage”, Spiller said.

“I had a history of 10 years of classroom teaching, a tiny bit of journalism, and a few years working in parliament for the Education Service. I figured I was in a good position to give it a go.”

It’s no surprise Simple Politics has gained a following, everyone’s eyes have been glued to their BBC News app notifications for the past five years, but not everyone understands what is happening.

A poll carried out last April by the research company Britain Thinks found that over half of the public say they ignore parties and politicians because they don’t know if they can trust them.

It found that 36% of people agree with the statement; “I have switched off from this election campaign because I do not know who to believe”.

“I think that we've helped people understand politics. It's very hard to tell when you're publishing into the abyss. People frequently tell me that they understand and engage with politics for the first time because of SP".

“The secret to learning - in the classroom and out - is a constant drip-feed over time. Single events change very little. That's what SP provides.”

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“Next slide please". Since March last year, the Downing street press conferences have quickly become a part of everyone’s lockdown routine.

Slide after slide of maps, graphs, and figures. There had been growing frustration that guidance from government ministers and scientific advisors was often confusing and unclear.

Adapting to this need for clarity, Simple Politics started releasing explainers about the ever-changing tier restrictions and daily figures, as well as providing briefing summaries. Spiller said these posts have been the most engaging posts on both their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

As you can imagine some users' comments under these posts can get heated. Expressing outrage; but never directly at Simple Politics instead at government figureheads.

Under an Instagram post about the recent national lockdown, one user commented, “A small pocket of sanity in a crazy world”. And another said, “I really appreciate your posts. You make the complicated become clear and simple to understand, with the odd bits of humour thrown in. Thank you!”

“People seem to find what we do very useful. We generally escape all that negativity. I think we're too inoffensive to bother those crowds”, Spiller said.

“Of course we get some people being a bit mean, either to us or to each other in comments, but I think the positivity and enthusiasm of the page, combined with an audience from across the political spectrum means it's all quite self-policing.”

During the US Presidential election last year, Simple Politics expanded creating Simple Politics US; the account gathered around 42K followers on Instagram in a couple of months.

“The US election seemed like a great time to try something out. Give it a go. It went OK. I definitely prefer UK politics, because I really get it.”

Spiller has also spoken about politics on national television with appearances on BBC Two’s Politics Live, Sky News, and Talk Radio.

As we’ve seen so far from the past five years, misinformation thrives in uncertainty and Simple Politics’ main purpose is to provide real information in a clear and accessible way.

“I think people are capable of deciding for themselves, as long as misinformation isn't way, way simpler to grasp than the complicated stories in the media.”

You can support Simple Politics with a monthly contribution on their website or you can buy Tatton’s book The Break Down for £12.99 from Waterstones.

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