The great US President Abraham Lincoln famously said ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.’ In an age of televised electoral debates, the pressure on our politicians to convince the majority of the electorate they can deliver on their promises has never been greater. In a short video trailer which features footage of Gordon Brown, Winston Churchill, Tony Blair, George Bush and Barack Obama, politicians Glenda Jackson and William Hague are among those who discuss the role of acting in politics, while an audio commentary presented by The Open University’s Professor of Politics Mike Saward looks at the demands on the politician as a performer.