Role play, bondage and spanking: How we view the sex lives of politicos

The British public believes Ukip supporters are bad in bed, Labour supporters are best, Lib Dems are boring and Conservatives are into spanking, according to a revealing new book.

Research detailed in a chapter of Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box by Philip Cowley and Robert Ford shows we imagine Conservatives are into bondage, Labour supporters are confident, Lib Dems are submissive and Ukip supporters are likely to be "unusual".

Titled 'Bedroom politics: party images', it looks at a YouGov survey where a representative sample of the public were asked what they thought typical British adults did in the bedroom. They were also asked how supporters of political parties might behave.

i100 has had access to the data in the chapter, and here are some of the highlights. All values are expressed as a percentage of British adults excluding don't knows:

As author Joe Twynman writes: "There are a couple of serious messages lodged in among all the kinky imagery. First, voters have quite distinctive views about the sex lives of Britain’s main political tribes, illustrating the power of political stereotypes and party images, which reach even into the nation’s bedrooms.

"Second, while the parties have distinct bedroom images in the minds of voters, voters tend to regard all party supporters as deviating from the bedroom behaviour of ‘normal’ (that is, non-political) citizens."

Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box by Philip Cowley and Robert Ford is published by Biteback and out now. Thank you to Philip Cowley for permission.

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