If the headlines are to be believed, young people have no place in public office

There’s no whitewashing the fact that Paris Brown said some pretty nasty things about immigrants and homosexuals when she was 14, and that her position was made untenable by a press crusade thirsty for her blood.

In many ways, Brown was a typical teenager- as far removed from the kind of careerist politician the public loves to hate. However, her treatment by the media held her to the same standard- if not a higher one- as that of a much older, and much more senior, elected official (I can’t remember Aidan Burley being hounded from office when he tweeted that the Olympic opening ceremony was “multicultural crap”).

However, to my mind the torrent of abuse heaped on her was not the product of a few choice phrases immortalised on Twitter. It was the result of a perverse rage against the fact that someone so young had been appointed to political office in the first place.

Elitism takes many forms, but it essentially boils down to one group belittling another because of perceived inferiority. The left has worked tirelessly to battle elitism wherever it rears its ugly head, but has failed to tackle the prejudice expressed by older generations to younger ones. It is snobbery in its most raw form – the young shouldn’t have a voice because they don’t know how to use it.

While the Paris Brown case was particularly bitter, her experience is not unique. Take the case of young councillors. Eighteen-year old Kate Taylor, elected a Labour councillor in Plymouth last year, had to face the sneering of locals who said she was too young for such a job. On an online forum one detractor said:  “she should be a tea-maker whilst learning the ropes. I’ll be amazed if anyone takes her seriously.”

As Paris Brown shows, if you act like a ‘normal teenager’ in a public role, you’re not fit for office. But, as Kate Taylor shows, if you act like a professional politician, you’re not taken seriously.

Why should they not think about running for office?  Labour voters are on average younger than Conservative ones, and with barely 2% of the House of Common under the age of 30 (in a country where 16-34 year olds make up 25% of the population) there is certainly a democratic deficit to be addressed.

Paris Brown is no poster girl for youth participation in politics, but her fall from grace is nothing to be celebrated. It only rolls back efforts to address the underrepresentation of young people and silence our voices at a time when our futures are under attack as never before.