David cameron

Surprise guests at this year's Davos include Donald Trump and John McDonnell. But fear not, there's still the usual citizens of nowhere. David Cameron and George Osborne have upped (ski) sticks and headed to the luxury Swiss resort for the week. Unfortunately for the former Prime Minister, he appears to have been caught out by a roaming microphone. Channel 5 have released footage of Cameron in conversation with Lakshmi Mittal in which he lets his thoughts be known on Brexit. It turns out it's not so bad as he thought – though it's still a 'mistake': 'It’s frustrating. As I keep saying, it’s a mistake, not a disaster. It’s turned out less badly than we first thought. But it’s still going to be difficult.' https://twitter.

Although Theresa May's reshuffle of junior ministers was less gaffe-prone than the main event on Monday, there's a feeling in the party that overall it has been an underwhelming event. With little change in the top ranks of May's Cabinet, critics have been quick to suggest that she is too weak to carry out a proper reshuffle. But now there's a new criticism being levied at the Prime Minister: too much change. Ed Vaizey – the former culture minister and resident Cameroon – took to social media on Tuesday to congratulate Michael Ellis on his appointment as the arts, heritage and tourism Minister. However, he went on to complain that the fact Ellis was the 'third arts Minister in less than 18 months' was 'not so good'. https://twitter.

What do Europeans really think about Brexit? Do they secretly admire our unexpected decision to walk away from all those pesky regulations and sub-committees? Or are our former ‘European friends’ relieved the arrogant, entitled Brits are leaving them alone? The official response of the European political class is one of regret combined with studied indifference and a determination not to let Brexit weaken the project. That, broadly, seems to be the unofficial response too. The EU, after a couple of decades of declining popularity and a rising populist challenge, has actually seen a small up-tick in popularity since Brexit, according to the Eurobarometer polling organisation. Trust in the EU stands at 42 per cent, ten points up since 2015 and the highest level since 2010.

Theresa May’s style of negotiating with the European Union is coming spookily to resemble David Cameron’s. She is in the mindset where the important thing is to get a deal, rather than working out what sort of a deal is worth getting. The EU understands this, and therefore delays, making Cameron/May more desperate to settle, even on bad terms. Eventually, there is an inadequate deal which the British government then has to sell to a doubting electorate. Mr Cameron was punished for this at the referendum he had called. Mrs May is inviting punishment at a general election. It is interesting how moderate politics cannot get a hearing just now.

Before David Cameron became Prime Minister in the 2010 election, he was dealt a setback when his old chum Ed Vaizey suggested that Cameron's wife Samantha might be voting Labour. Although Cameron's team were quick to pour cold water on the suggestion – and Vaizey in turn backtracked – the rumour persisted over the years. Now that the pair are out of No 10, Sam Cam has finally set the record straight in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. The fashion designer tells the paper that she never went so far as to vote Labour – but she did sometimes vote Green: 'But I didn’t always vote Conservative – sometimes I went Green.

This article originally appeared in the Spectator in March. It is being reposted on Coffee House after the former Prime Minister was pictured letting his hair down at a festival It can be cruel, the way politics plays out. At the very moment George Osborne was telling the bemused staff of the London Evening Standard last week that his working life in politics had obscured a passionate desire to become a newspaper editor, a familiar figure could be seen in the fresh meat department of the Whole Foods supermarket almost directly underneath the paper’s Kensington newsroom. That man was David Cameron, and inevitably someone with journalistic instincts spotted him, snapped him on her phone, and tweeted it.

It may not be this week. It may not be Boris Johnson. But eventually a minister will break with this tottering government and establish himself (or herself, for it could be Andrea Leadsom) as the leader of the diehard right. Brexit is crying out for its Ludendorff; the scoundrel who can blame his failures on everyone but himself. The smart move for today's right wing politicians who find their careers blocked is to break with the Tory leadership – whatever or whoever that may consist of – and resort to old  slogans. The referendum delivered a mandate to leave, Johnson, or whoever takes up the challenge of building a new nationalist right, could say.

Wimbledon wouldn’t be Wimbledon without strawberries and cream, Pimms and…John Bercow in the Royal Box. The speaker of the House of Commons has been something of a permanent fixture over the last few years indulging his love of watching the tennis among the great and the good. Since 2015, he’s managed to get his mitts on £8,000 worth of free tickets to Wimbledon. Today, he’s back in his second favourite seat - watching Jo Konta crash out of the championships while deputy speaker Eleanor Laing filled in for him in the day job in Parliament. Somewhat awkwardly for Bercow though, also in the Royal Box was his old adversary David Cameron.

I am not sure I can think of any great public assembly in Britain I’d enjoy less than Glastonbury. Within reason, I’m not sure you could even pay me to go there. Glastonbury is a place for dear Hugo Rifkind not for me, and that’s the way I imagine we both prefer it.  Still, there was something worth seeing at Glastonbury this year. Jeremy Corbyn, obviously. His appearance was remarkable, even if it has also prompted a fresh outbreak of one of Britain’s under-appreciated traditional sports: members of the middle-class sneering at other members of the middle-class.  Even so, two things can be said about this. First, the Labour party cannot win unless it is a broad church.

Theresa May has few friends at the moment. But while her Christmas card list might be dwindling, her tally of critics is growing rapidly. Yesterday, John Major urged the Prime Minister to ditch a deal with the DUP or risk jeopardising the peace process in Northern Ireland. Now, David Cameron has waded in, calling for the PM to adopt a ‘softer’ approach to Brexit in the wake of last week’s election disaster. The former PM also said that his successor should change tack and ‘listen to other parties’ on the best way of leaving the EU. So, just another ex-Tory leader with too much time on their hands determined to take up the role of a backseat driver?