Gordon Brown Fancams Are Officially A ‘Thing’ On TikTok

It’s not that I don’t think about politics. How could I avoid it, with the recent local elections, Starmer’s precarious prime ministership, Reform’s latest scandals, and the US-Iran conflict?

It’s just that Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister from 2007-2010, isn’t usually at the top of those thoughts, despite his new role in Starmer’s government.

That, it seems, shows my age. TikTok scrolls in the past few weeks have brought some surprising treats to my virtual doorstep, not unlike an eager, ironic-ish e-cat with babygirlified prey in its mouth.

This, people, is the age of the Gordon Brown fancam.

Fancams are fan-made edits of a star, designed to show them at their most beautiful, charming, funny, powerful, or generally appealing. People use music and filters to celebrate and “sell” their fave: it’s a bit like a thirst trap.

They’re usually associated with people like K-pop idols, famous actors, and sometimes, sidelined characters fans want to convince others to appreciate. Fancams can be used to “ship”, or create the appearance of a romantic relationship between, celebs and characters that aren’t together in real life.

(No, Tony Blair and Brown have not dodged that particular application of the format.)

So effective is the format that companies have started to create their own fan edits (though I suppose those are just “edits”). Take these clips of Penn Badgley in Easy A, compiled by streamer Peacock, for instance.

I feel I should add at this point that earnest fancams are almost universally horny.

Yes. It’s worth noting that The Kids have been making ironic fancams for a while: I think this edit of the bee in The Bee Movie, for instance, might not be so much an outpouring of uncontrollable lust as it is a gentle ribbing of the movie’s absurd premise.

Clips that ship Brown and Blair seem to have been posted with tongue firmly in cheek (the posters’ in their own, not the ex-PMs in each other’s), too. “Don’t even joke,” one commenter wrote under a viral Blair-Brown video.

But others seem a tad more sincere.

“JESUS HAS RESURRECTED,” one video, which has racked up over 24,000 views on the shortform clip app, reads. The title referred to Brown’s recent appointment to the role of Starmer’s Special Envoy for Global Finance.

In the comments, the account behind the Bernie Sanders mashup clip said they were celebrating the role because they feel Brown “basically saved Europe from financial destitution during the financial crash and he knows more about political economics than probably anyone else in this country”.

They added that the video was “hopecore,” while another app user said, “WE MIGHT BE OK”.

That’s not to say that Gen Z don’t know the format is funny, or that these fancams are meant as a straight-faced commentary. Even the most earnest posts acknowledge these are “memes”.

And Gordon isn’t the only politician to have been fancamed. But he is, it seems, especially likely to receive the treatment ― “My first thought when I heard the news was I can’t wait for all the Gordon edits we’re about to get,” a comment below an edit which played Hozier’s Do I Wanna Know? reads.

(The video played over the lyrics “crawling back to you”).

“Guys this is the third edit I see of this guy pls explain to me why do you love him,” another commenter asked.

I can’t say I have answers. Maybe it’s a combination of Gen Z’s naughties nostalgia, a throwback to when we had fewer PMs in quick succession, or simply because some find him “cute” (yep, Brown has gotten the babygirl treatment online too).

Whatever the reason, keep an eye on your timeline: a heavily edited Brown clip might be coming soon to small screens near you.