The curse of the Next Big Thing

By Brian Wheeler
BBC News political reporter

They are young, ambitious and seen by some as the future of their party.

George Best spawned many imitators

But try calling George Osborne and his friend David Cameron the Conservatives' answer to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and you are likely to get pretty short shrift.

Mr Osborne, who this week was appointed shadow chancellor at the age of 33, says the pair are tired of the comparison, which has dogged them since they entered Parliament together in 2001.

To be hyped in this way is usually the "kiss of death" in politics and in any case the Blair/Brown analogy does not really hold water.

But is Mr Osborne protesting too much? Surely being compared to successful figures in any field can't harm a fledgling career?

Or is there really such a thing as the curse of the Next Big Thing?

'Next Beatles'

The worlds of entertainment and sport are littered with cautionary tales of raw talent over-hyped - or hopelessly mis-labelled in an attempt to gain publicity.

Virtually every song writing partnership to have emerged since the 1960s has been dubbed the new Lennon and McCartney.

And countless bands - from the Bay City Rollers to Blur - have been touted as the "next Beatles".

Some, such as Oasis, have actively sought out the comparison in the hope of gaining reflected glory.

George Osborne's rise has been rapid

Others such as late Sixties outfit Badfinger, who were signed to the Beatles' Apple label, had it thrust upon them and crumbled under the weight of expectation.

Bruce Springsteen was hyped as the next Bob Dylan and his career took years to recover.

More recently, Gary Barlow, of Take That, was sold as the next George Michael only to see the crown snatched by Robbie Williams, who has, in turn, become a role model for boy band escapees everywhere.

In football, you are nobody unless you are the next somebody - even if the hype surrounding you can damage your career and become a millstone around your neck.

Next George Bests include Ryan Giggs, who went on to be a big star, and dozens of others, such as Peter Marinello, Keith Gillespie, Willie Morgan and Leighton James, who didn't.

There have also been several Next Paul Gascoignes, including Wayne Rooney, although that label comes with a warning as well as the promise of success.

Serious business

Politics is, of course, an altogether more serious and unforgiving business than sport and showbiz.

All political careers end in failure of one kind or another and no politician has prospered for long by slavishly copying their mentors.

But that has not stopped canny operators attempting to get a leg up by encouraging comparisons between themselves and the greats.

Robbie Williams: Copycat career?

Winston Churchill has been a favourite down the years (the "wilderness years" come in particularly handy for explaining long absences from the front bench).

Then there are the next Margaret Thatchers - something every female Tory politician is called at some point in their careers whether they like it or not.

In the 1980s, Edwina Currie and Virginia Bottomley wore it with pride. Both have since left politics.

The last politicians to be seriously hyped as the next Blair and Brown were Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn.

Unlike messrs Cameron and Osborne, they at least had the advantage of belonging to the same party as their putative role models.

But on current form both men seem destined to see out their careers on the backbenches.

Provincial obscurity

The fact is, in the grey world of politics, comparing someone to a famous figure is a handy way of spicing up dull copy and giving readers something to latch on to.

That's why political nicknames persist through the ages and also why the Next Big Thing label is harder to live down than in other areas of public life.

And there is another difference.

When sports stars and entertainers fail to become the Next Big Thing, they can continue to ply their trade in provincial obscurity, far from the mocking gaze of former rivals.

For politicians, it is not so easy. They still have to show up to every performance of the star names they did not manage to dislodge and sit there in mute appreciation of the greatness they failed to achieve.