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A former award-winning porn director has entered politics in Britian…and is now a promising candidate for Parliament. The World’s Laura Lynch reports.

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MARCO WERMAN:  It’s election season in Britain too.  The formal campaign is expected to get underway in a few weeks and it’s shaping up to be a close contest.  But it’s also threatening to upend Parliament’s rather stuffy reputation.  That’s because of one candidate with a decidedly racy past.  The World’s Laura Lynch reports.

LAURA LYNCH:  To be sure, there have been colorful politicians roaming the halls of Westminster before, but candidate Anna Arrowsmith has a lot of them beat with a career path that’s certain to make some honorable members blush.  This is a relatively tame scene from one of Arrowsmith’s films.  Arrowsmith has made more than 250 movies with titles like “Women Love Porn” and “Be My Toy Boy”.  She doesn’t think it’s odd to go from pornography director to candidate for Parliament.  In fact, she sees similarities between the two professions.

ANNA ARROWSMITH:  The fact that they’re both pretty much run by men historically, yes.  So that’s one of the reasons why I’m attracted to, well was attracted to the porn industry, was to make a difference for women and to represent women and change the industry from the inside.  And yes, I’d like to do the same with Parliament.

LYNCH: Arrowsmith is running for the liberal democrats, the third of the three major political parties in Britain.  She says she’s serious about her bid for office and she’s not ashamed of her past.

ARROWSMITH: I’m being very honest about what I’ve done for 12 years so I was very up front about that.  I come from a background where I’ve been sort of political all my life.  For instance, when I was seven one of my earliest memories is hoping that Margaret Thatcher got in and so I’ve always had a very strong feeling for women’s rights.

LYNCH: Whether Lady Thatcher would welcome the endorsement of a porn director isn’t certain.  But Arrowsmith says she’s a feminist and rejects claims her films exploit women.  Because, she says, she does things differently.

ARROWSMITH: Everybody that appears in my films appears as a three dimensional character, as a proper person if you like.  I think in a lot of pornography, people are essentially mannequins.  They’re physical bodies that have sex.  With mine you actually get to know a bit about the person.

LYNCH: In this election Arrowsmith’s party has a chance to make real gains and to hold a degree of power if there is a minority government.  So it’s not surprising that her party leader, Nick Clegg is choosing his words very carefully when it comes to his newest candidate.

NICK CLEGG:  It’s not exactly my cup of tea what she’s been doing before she put herself forward in Parliament, but I also actually think that it’s really important that people like her, who really care a lot about her local area, are encouraged to come into politics.  You can’t accuse her of being a sort of cardboard cut out Westminster politician.

LYNCH: That is certainly true and might well be a selling point for voters who are fed up with hearing about members of Parliament abusing their expense accounts.  But today on the streets o the district where she hopes to win, the reviews are mixed.

FEMALE VOICE 1:  No there’s no problem at all.  It’s her job at the end of the day, so – - is her job, so if she wants to run for MP, she can run for MP.  It’s her job; it’s the same as me working in just a shop.  It’s still a job at the end of the day, isn’t it?

MALE VOICE 1:  I guess it doesn’t kind of marry up, does it?  It’s kind of like you’ve got a public face and figure and public servant on one hand, but then on the other they’re kind of involved in this side of what seems like quite a seedy sort of side of things.

FEMALE VOICE 2:  No, it doesn’t really matter to me.  It wouldn’t make any difference.

FEMALE VOICE 3:  It’s really not setting a great example, is it?  Anybody that’s dealing with pornographic business of any type I really wouldn’t approve of it and definitely not somebody that’s operating through Parliament.

LYNCH: Arrowsmith does face a tough challenge.  Her party ran a distant third in her district in the last election.  Still, she thinks she has a reasonable chance.

ARROWSMITH: I’m a member of the public.  I’ve been successful in my field and I think, judging by the media over here, that I’ve got a lot of support.

LYNCH: So, is Britain ready to have its politics sexed up?  After all, until now the only time you heard that phrase in British government was in relation to Tony Blair’s so-called dodgy dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.  For The World, I’m Laura Lynch.

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