Politics is just one long Botox party, darling

Silvio Berlusconi

PARIS - One's gone for a hair transplant. Another has a new set of teeth. Many glow perma-tan orange. Dyed locks, rock-ribbed tummies, designer suits and image consultants are the rage. Botox parties can't be too far away.

We're not talking about the Hollywood lovies set, C-list celebrities or even lounge lizards beyond their sell-by date, this bunch of beautiful people are European politicians.

In the past, the typical European pol was middle-aged, dour, and either unaware or unconcerned.

A tubby waistline or matronly hips, baldness or a stern haircut, jowls, wrinkles and frumpy clothing sent out a message of wisdom and experience, of substance over style.

Today, though, the accent is on youth and freshness, and surgeons and image engineers are doing a lucrative business in removing or covering up the imperfections of nature.

The big daddy of the makeover is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 69, who in 2003 had a facelift to remove bags under his eyes. This was followed by a hair transplant. Stylishly, he covered his pate with a bandanna until the roots had bedded.

Unabashed, the tycoon-premier, whose reputation for colourful language is as large as his cosmetics bill, said it was his duty to look his best.

His brazenness and thirst for the fountain of youth have clearly started a trend, for now French politicians are turning, albeit discreetly, to the knife, the bottle and the sunbed to improve their looks and popularity.

The French daily Liberation says Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin owes much of his high opinion poll scores to surgery that removed a pea-sized wart from the bridge of his nose, a deep sun tan and a tough exercise regime, all designed to make him look dashing, athletic and tall when compared to his diminutive rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin Mark II was unveiled during his holiday at the Atlantic coast resort of La Baule last September, "when he emerged from the sea with tanned skin and steel-like abs, in a photocall where nothing was left to chance," Liberation said.

Senior Socialist politician and former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn has had a drooping eyelid fixed up that his image gurus had said made him look gangsterish.

Segolene Royal, a potential Socialist candidate for the 2007 presidential race, has had her "carnivorous-looking" teeth topped by gleaming caps that mirror Washington politicians. Perhaps literally.

Strauss-Kahn and Royal are locked in a fierce battle to be the Socialist candidate in the presidential election; whoever scores the nomination will face off against Villepin or Sarkozy.

The image of President Jacques Chirac, hardly considered the Brad Pitt of his field, is nonetheless carefully nurtured by his daughter Claude.

She got him to dump glasses for contacts, gave him a permanent tan, and dumped his hearing aid when its sole appearance was seized upon by the media as a sign of the 73-year-old head-of-state's ailing capacities.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel underwent an extensive image makeover before her election, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair is famed for his Paul Smith shirts, "youthful" features and a propensity to flash his teethy grin.

"Research shows that image matters," says Colour Me Beautiful, an image consultancy popular with European politicians. "Fifty-five per cent of the impact we make depends on how we look and behave, 38 per cent on how we speak and only 7 per cent on what we actually say."

The headlong rush to superficiality is less than total, though. Many politicians are happy ugly, old and boring, and some trade on this image, using it as a sign of honesty and sincerity.