Alan Titchmarsh MP? His independent manifesto gets my vote

He offers the simple, engaging and populist fare that was lacking from all the main parties on 7 May

Alan Titchmarsh MP? (BBC)

I’ve always been in two minds about Alan Titchmarsh. On the one hand, he’s a gardening god, holder of the Victoria Medal, the highest honour in the horticultural world. On the other, he was responsible for Ground Force and once, while we were pushing through the crowds at the Chelsea Flower Show, my mum reckoned Titchmarsh gave her a dirty look.

But my indecision has been resolved once and for all because the Titch has revealed ambitions to stand for Parliament and unveiled the sort of manifesto that I would vote for if he were bidding to be my MP. Titchmarsh told The Times that, if persuaded to run, he would stand as an independent because he didn’t feel affiliated to any particular party.

This is the kind of non-tribalism we need more of in politics. During the election, several voters told me they liked their local MP/candidate, but they just didn’t want to vote for his or her party. Voters are cannier than politicians give them credit for. They know when they are being asked to elect MPs who will just be lobby fodder rather than strong, independent-minded representatives in Parliament.

Titchmarsh wanted Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom and now wants the UK to stay part of the European Union. This is the kind of sensible, steady-as-she-goes approach that I find it difficult to argue with.

More than that, Titchmarsh knows that gardeners would have been punished if Scotland had gone independent – the majority of seed potatoes are raised north of the border, for a start. Same goes for the EU – apart from some pesky regulations Brussels tried to enforce that would have reduced diversity in the seeds we’re allowed to grow, being a part of a trading bloc is better for gardeners.

But never mind all that, here is what Titchmarsh says about the real things that matter in life: the TV presenter would ban wire coathangers, and I’m with him all the way on this. Whenever I pick up clothes from the dry cleaner, I always forget to say I don’t want more of these damned things. Too late – they end up in my wardrobe, where they spend every night becoming entangled with each other while I’m asleep.

When I try to throw them in the bin, they don’t fit, so I bend them in half and end up with more scratches than if I’d been gooseberry picking with Alan. Titchmarsh also wants rid of sell-by dates on food, which amount to one of the greatest scandals of modern life. We throw away a third of our food, worth £19bn a year, mainly because the label tells us to, when in fact they could keep going in our fridges for a few more weeks.

Antibacterial wipes would also be banned under a Titchmarsh government, because they lower our resistance to bugs. This is a man who has his hands in dirt every day of his life and, at 66, is fit as a fiddle leaf fig – he knows what he’s talking about.

Titchmarsh wants nature and gardening lessons to be compulsory at school and I agree. Gardening is science, maths, economics and Latin rolled into one, but it also nurtures a deep affinity with our planet, and we’re going to need the next generation to help us on this.

Finally, the Titch would have Poldark on TV every Sunday, all year round. Get this man into the Commons!

What the Titchmarsh manifesto promises is more than trivia; it is the simple, engaging, populist fare that was lacking from all the main parties on 7 May. If voters are put off by politics, it is because of a lack of imagination on the part of MPs. The current contest for the Labour leadership has failed to inspire people because nobody can remember what any of the candidates are pledging. Their “retail offers” are a dry and dusty border of weeds that no one wants to look at.

They need a bit of Titchmarsh colour in the political herbaceous borders. As the man himself says: “Could I help, if only from a common sense point of view?” Yes, you can, Alan.

Twitter@janemerrick23