PR will be crucial at this General Election

AND they're off!

This morning's newspapers are full of the news that the General Election has been called for May 6.

For the next month, all the parties will be presenting their policies in a bid to woo voters.

With so much at stake, none of them will be wanting any slips ups (inevitable though they may be) and will be deploy every PR trick in the book.

Of course, the biggest trick is to engage in PR, but make it look as if you're not and that everything that happens is a natural occurence.

For instance, it was no surprise that just hours after Gordon Brown called the Election, he was having a meet and greet in someone's house in Kent, and also visited a Morrisons supermarket. Both these events will have been prepared beforehand, and the audience will have been carefully selected.

It's quite ironic that at a time when politicians are meant to be going out there to meet the public and canvass their vote, they actually seem to meet very few 'real' members of the public.

The reason is simple; it's every party's worst nightmare to see their leader handbagged a la Tony Blair in 2001 because, quite simple, it a) makes a great story b) is off-message and c) shows someone dissenting publicly.

Elections for parties are about creating a 'feel-good' momentum, so they seek to provide news outlets with opportunities to see their leaders surrounded by an adoring public.

Although we British tend to favour the underdog, that trend doesn't seem to following for mainstream politics. So whereas we may elevate the appalling singer on X-Factor to national fame and stardom simply because of their underdog status, we tend not to, quite rightly, employ the same sympathies when selecting the person you want to run the country.

It'll be interesting to see how each party's PR strategies work over the next 4 weeks, and to a large degree they will either make or break their chances are getting the keys to Number 10.