David cameron

Monday

Steerpike

Should the Guardian apologise to David Cameron over orgasm blunder?

From our UK edition

Readers of the Guardian had cause to splutter into their tea this morning after one bright spark seemingly put the wrong photo on an article advising a reader who has difficulty reaching climax during sexual intercourse. Some mistake surely by the @guardian website's picture editor pic.twitter.com/HLufxoiuoW — Paul Callaghan (@PMCallaghan) January 26, 2015 Although the reader's name was not listed, it is thought that it was not David Cameron writing in with his problem. Mr S imagines he would go straight to The Spectator's own Dear Mary should any issues arise. The photo on the article has now been changed to a more generic snap. It would certainly make an interesting read in their corrections column.

Steerpike

Dave’s chillaxed approach to keeping fit

From our UK edition

First it was George Osborne on the 5:2 diet, then the Prime Minister revealed he had 'given up bread' in an attempt to shed some pre-election pounds. Today, Cameron has revealed further details of this vigorous health kick. Speaking in Hampshire, he claimed he rambles through the Oxfordshire countryside with his daughter Florence upon his shoulders 'to add to the exercise regime I am undertaking'. You be careful there, Prime Minister. Don't exert yourself too much.

Sunday

Damian Thompson

Oftsed’s campaign against Christian schools: now Gove is gone, the Blob is back

From our UK edition

When Ofsted inspectors allegedy asked primary-age girls at Grindon Hall Christian School, Sunderland, whether they knew what lesbians did in bed, they (apparently) received insufficiently detailed answers. Also, pupils displayed scant knowledge of Hindu festivals. Now the free school has been placed in special measures. It may be that Grindon Hall is a nest of Christian fundamentalist bigotry. I rather doubt it, though. Likewise, I'm unconvinced – to put it mildly – that St Benedict's Catholic comprehensive, Bury St Edmonds, 'failed to promote British values' by neglecting citizenship classes. A better explanation comes to mind. Having claimed the scalp of Michael Gove, 'the Blob' is bouncing jubilantly around the Department for Education.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Labour signs up to debates as broadcasters threaten an empty chair

From our UK edition

So the broadcasters have done what many thought they’d be too afraid to do and have threatened to empty chair David Cameron - or anyone else who refuses to take part - in the TV debates. In a statement released this afternoon, BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 said ‘in the event that any of the invited party leaders decline to participate, debates will take place with the party leaders who accept the invitation’. They have also said the debates will all take place within the short campaign, which Cameron didn’t want either. Labour has said it will sign up to the debates, while others continue to grumble. But naturally David Cameron has said very little.

Alex Massie

Conservative Central Office appears to be working for the SNP

From our UK edition

Even by the standards of the Conservative and Unionist (sic) party this is an impressively stupid poster. Do they really want to encourage Scots to vote for the SNP? Evidently they do. Of course we know why. Every seat Labour lose in Scotland makes it less and less likely Labour will emerge from the election as the largest party. Consequently, every SNP gain makes it a little more likely David Cameron will have a chance of cobbling together a second ministry. But, my god, think of the price at which that comes. In their desperation to stop Miliband the Tories are prepared to risk the future of the United Kingdom. They might win this election but at the expense of losing their country. As Pyrrhic conquests go, that takes some beating.

Steerpike

Louise Mensch blasts David Cameron for King Abdullah tribute

From our UK edition

Although Louise Mensch was once heralded as a 'Cameron Cutie,' the former Conservative MP's relationship with the Prime Minister has soured after he paid tribute to the late King Abdullah. The Saudi Arabia monarch's death was announced yesterday, with the cause of death thought to be a lung infection. Speaking following the news, Cameron gushed that he would be remembered for his 'commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths'. However, the fact that his reign in Saudi Arabia has seen a higher number of beheadings than those carried out by Isis appears to have not escaped Mensch's attention.

Thursday

The Spectator

Don’t believe the gloom-mongers: deflation will be good for Britain

From our UK edition

Campaigning in Putney in 1978, Mrs Thatcher famously took out a pair of scissors and cut a pound note down the middle, telling her audience that the remaining stump represented what was left of the pound in your pocket after four years of Labour and high inflation. David Cameron may soon be able to repeat the stunt — except rather than cutting a note in half he will be able to stick a bit on the end to represent the extra buying power being granted to consumers courtesy of deflation. Inflation on the government’s preferred measure, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), has fallen to 0.5 per cent. With the price of crude oil slumping and a supermarket price war in full cry, it may well dip below zero in coming months. That is to say: the cost of living is about to fall.

Isabel Hardman

Broadcasters to propose new set of TV election debates

From our UK edition

The broadcasters have reportedly come up with a new set of proposals for the TV debates in order to force David Cameron to sign up. The Radio Times reports that they now want to hold one debate where the Prime Minister will face Ed Miliband, and two debates that feature almost everyone - Conservatives, Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, Ukip, SNP and Plaid Cymru. This doesn’t just answer Cameron’s stipulation that the Greens must be involved, but answers the next question that would then be posed, which is what about the nationalist parties. Unless he suddenly starts talking about the importance of George Galloway, the Prime Minister will find it very, very difficult to wriggle away from these debates.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

PM and Education Secretary at odds over Page 3

From our UK edition

The ministers covering women and equalities do have a view on the disappearance of topless Page 3 models, but the Prime Minister apparently doesn’t. Today Nicky Morgan called the decision of The Sun to put something over at least a portion of the breasts of the women in its paper ‘a long overdue decision and marks a small but significant step towards improving media portrayal of women and girls. I very much hope it remains permanent’. Her Lib Dem colleague Jo Swinson said she was delighted that the old fashioned sexism of Page 3 could soon be a thing of the past’ and called on the newspaper’s editors ‘to consider whether parading women in bikinis is really a modern reflection of the contribution women make to society’.

Steerpike

Does Harriet Harman love or loathe Obama? It’s becoming hard to tell…

From our UK edition

'Most people will feel that Obama does not really know what is going on in this country,' said a snappy Harriet Harman last night. The Labour deputy leader was sent out to bash the President after his glowing endorsement of David Cameron and tactical backing of the Tories for the May election. But Harriet has changed her tune. It seems like just yesterday that she was lavishing praise on Obama, suggesting that we apply his magic tonic to our country: 'Barack Obama's campaign challenged pessimism and defied defeatism and said "yes we can" - and he made this happen. That's what we need to do here as well.' Six years later and Obama thinks Cameron has done just that. No wonder she's angry.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Team Boris are catching ‘interesting fish’

From our UK edition

Who are the latest contenders in the Tory leadership battle and how much support do they have? That’s the question that Tory MPs and pundits love to chew over, even though there is no contest. The latest fixation is whether George Osborne has rowed behind the Boris campaign. James looked at this yesterday, revealing that Boris might quite fancy taking over from David Cameron after an EU referendum in 2017. Of course, the funny thing is that there isn’t a leadership contest because David Cameron is currently secure as Prime Minister.

Sebastian Payne

Watch: Green leader Natalie Bennett backs Cameron on TV debates

From our UK edition

What are you afraid of boys? The Green Party posed this question on Westminster's College Green this morning as they launched a new poster campaign (driven around on pedal bikes, natch) calling for the Greens to be involved in the TV leaders debates. Leader Natalie Bennett also announced that the party's membership is up to 44,175 today — 52,000 including Scotland. I asked Bennett how she feels about being used by the Prime Minister for his own political gains. She doesn’t seem to mind too much: ‘Mr Cameron is certainly speaking for his own political advantage – but he’s only able to do that because it’s a fair and responsible thing to say.

Isabel Hardman

Parties stick in comfort zones for another Monday of campaigning

From our UK edition

It’s another election Monday and the three parties are still hanging about in their comfort zones, even though they appear to have moved on to other topics. David Cameron is talking about the economy, but with a softer, nicer-sounding edge that has riled some on the Left because it involves him talking about full employment, which is something Beveridge was a fan of, and pay rises, which is something Labour says it wants more (while backing the public sector pay freeze).The Prime Minister will give a speech promising to expand the start-up loans to help 50,000 more entrepreneurs set up business using a £300 million pot. The Prime Minister wants to paint his party as ‘the party of small businesses.

Sunday

James Forsyth

Why Boris and the Tory leadership are playing nicely

From our UK edition

For most of this parliament, Downing Street has been thoroughly paranoid about Boris Johnson and his intentions. Any attempt by the Mayor to reach out to Tory MPs was met with deep suspicion. But now, the Tory leadership is actively pushing Boris to see Tory MPs — he was even invited to join the Whips for a Whips Supper at Boisdale last week. This is all evidence of the unspoken deal between Boris and the Tory leadership. He will be loyal and campaign hard for Cameron. In exchange, it will allow him to cultivate Tory MPs; helping him to rectify his biggest weakness ahead of any Tory leadership contest. These arrangements suit everyone involved.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Cameron and Obama: Friends4eva

From our UK edition

David Cameron and Barack Obama have just finished giving a rather cutesy and extremely verbose press conference following the reinvigorating of their bromance/serious talks on the economy and counter-terrorism. The pair structured their opening statements to mirror one another, with each opening with a little tribute to the other. Obama said Cameron was a ‘great friend’ and ‘one of my closest and trusted partners in the world, while Cameron said Obama was a ‘great friend to Britain and to me personally’. A good friend indeed: Obama is basically doing everything he can to help Cameron be re-elected in this country. One of the most useful quotes is the one from the President that the US and the UK economies are the ones that stand out in the world.

Thursday

The Spectator

David Cameron has a very strange idea of freedom

From our UK edition

Last Sunday, David Cameron marched through Paris in solidarity, so it seemed, with those who stand up for free speech. Anyone who thought he meant it must now be crying out, ‘Je suis un right Charlie!’ Hardly had the march finished than the Prime Minister had rediscovered his other side: the one which reacts to terror by threatening yet more surveillance, more state control. He has promised to revive, in the Conservative manifesto, the ‘-snooper’s charter’ which would allow the state to retain indefinitely information about every email we ever send, every telephone call we ever make. Not only that. He added a further measure: he wants to ban all kinds of encrypted communications which the security forces struggle to decipher.

Isabel Hardman

Clunky Conservative machine still causing unnecessary problems

From our UK edition

There is considerable frustration in the Tory ranks about the way the Prime Minister is handling the TV debates. Both those who think David Cameron should be doing the debates and those who think he should be doing everything in his power to avoid them are frustrated that the issue is beginning to take up the time that the Tories should be using to talk endlessly about the economy. They point out that they’ve been told not to talk about immigration or Europe - or indeed the NHS, if they fancy it - and focus relentlessly on the economy but are ending up having to contort themselves into strange positions that involve them talking about the value of the Green party or the importance of the SNP in order to defend their leader's reluctance to sign up to the debates.

Melanie McDonagh

Dear David and Barack, Britain and America didn’t defeat the Nazis alone

From our UK edition

It’s easily done, I know, when you’re trying to convey the beauty of a two-way relationship, to remember that others may have been involved in the events that brought you closer. But when it’s the Second World War, these little lapses of memory are less forgivable. In a moving article in The Times today (£), with a joint byline and double byline picture (same colour ties! Purple), David Cameron and Barack Obama describe the events of modern times in which the special relationship really mattered. 'Together we defeated the Nazis', they begin brightly (or, to be fair, whichever bloke from the Foreign Office/State Department cobbled this together). Fine.

Steerpike

Peers demand PM lobbies President over haggis ban

From our UK edition

Patriotic peers have demanded that David Cameron raise the US haggis import ban with President Obama at the White House today. As Steerpike noted yesterday, the 1971 ban on the product is under renewed scrutiny in the run up to Burn’s Night, with Lord McColl demanding answers to great cheers in the House of Lords this morning. Apparently ‘this wholesome food is much better than the junk many Americans eat’. Tory peer Michael Forsyth even went as far as to demand that a special envoy on the matter be appointed immediately, and suggested the former First Minister Alex Salmond might be free to take the fight directly to the Yanks.

James Forsyth

Why the Greek election could decide Britain’s next government

From our UK edition

Before the eurozone crisis, Greek elections didn’t receive much attention in Westminster. At the moment, however, the polls from Athens are being studied by every politico from the Prime Minister down. How Greece votes on the 25 January could determine the result of our election. If anti-austerity Syriza triumphs, the eurozone crisis will move from a chronic phase into another acute one. For the second election in a row, the backdrop to a British poll and possible coalition negotiation would be talk of debt defaults and bank runs, as Athens struggles with the eurozone straitjacket. Syriza does not want Greece to leave the euro. But it does want the ‘fiscal waterboarding’ to stop, as its leader Alexis Tsipras puts it.