Columnist and author Owen Jones has no trouble in saying what he thinks, which is why he is yet to make the leap into becoming a bona fide politician.
The author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class and the hugely successful The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It, has emerged as a spokesman for generation disaffected with the political establishment.
But despite his popularity, he has no plans to stand as an MP – yet.
Speaking to Richard Bacon for HuffPost UK’s new original video series ‘30 Something’, he said: “I’ve been asked to stand time and time again but I’ve said no. There might come a time when I think, well actually getting elected as an MP, that’s a better way of doing it, fight for your beliefs, but to be honest with you, I wouldn’t end up as a minister, I’d end up as a back-bencher lobbying for things I believe in.
“I wouldn’t toe a party line because I get too frustrated, I’d want to stand up for my beliefs whatever I did. As long as I can do that, I’m happy you know.”
Despite being in his thirties, Owen has achieved a level of success normally reserved for writers much older. However he is wary of becoming a “celebrity”.
“That’s exactly the opposite of what I’m trying to do. It turns it into a celebrity thing, in the celebrity culture that we live in where you’re supposed to be fans of people, it’s like this passive thing.”
Despite authoring two of the most successful political books of recent times, Owen revealed he doesn’t actually enjoy writing.
He said: “Oh it’s so boring, just lose the will to live doing it, just sit in the corner in the fetal position rocking. I don’t like the solitude of it, I wouldn't be writing the things I do unless I thought there was hope and things could change.
“Otherwise it’s totally self indulgent what's the point?”