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Cameron - a "shrewd & malevolent psychopath"?

(233 Posts)
FarNorth Mon 08-Jun-15 20:27:17

Not that I am suggesting such a thing, but here is a thought-provoking article from the Guardian :
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/01/david-cameron-moriarty-downing-street-radical-thatcher

(For those who don't like links, the title of this thread gives a good clue, so you can just go from there. smile)

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 20:32:25

Didn't work very well for him over the weekend, did it, FarNorth?
He had to backtrack pretty quickly on telling his cabinet that if they did not vote to stay in the EU, they would be sacked.
Did you see the reporters laughing at the idea that they had all got it wrong yesterday?

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 20:33:02

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2015/06/08/the-tory-civil-war-begins-now

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 20:36:03

Your article was about Human Rights.
This goes to ECHR next week.

www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/06/04/jean-charles-de-menezes-case-could-spark-new-human-rights-ba

It will be interesting to see what happens in the current climate.

Mishap Mon 08-Jun-15 20:53:09

It was unedifying to hear him backtracking and trying to say he did not say what he said. Sounds as though a bit of internecine strife is looming. He seems to be determined to get his own way - maybe he will get too big for his boots.

His statement “For too long we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens so long as you obey the law we will leave you alone.” is indeed pretty creepy.

JessM Mon 08-Jun-15 21:00:47

Very difficult to judge really whether he is stupid and lucky, with some good advisers put in by the Party, or whether he is wily and malevolent.
If he was a character in a novel (one by Jilly Cooper probably) who would ever believe that, in real life, he could get away with:
* 2010 election - "Vote Blue - get green", promising to be the "greenest government ever" and then doing nothing, but nothing to justify it. In fact the reverse e.g. cutting the amount of money the energy companies have to pay in "green taxes" i.e. subsidies for insulating the homes of poorer people .
* The whole Coulson - Brooks thing (straight out of a Cooper novel that one, horses included)
* Convincing people in 2005 that the NHS was safe in his hands, because his family had really needed the NHS when his brain-damaged son was alive. (Not the kind of thing that private medicine is ever going to cover). And that he was not going to do any reorganisations. Then doing a reorganisation that nobody wanted. Then he drags his dead son into his election speeches all over again in 2015 all the while planning massive £22 billion cuts (more actually - that's just England).

absent Mon 08-Jun-15 21:03:08

Oh JessM No one is brain-damaged these days; they have learning difficulties. So that's okay then.

soontobe Mon 08-Jun-15 21:31:04

Having read his words that he apparently said, I can see why there was a muddle. I dont think he meant them how it was reported. Could be wrong.

soontobe Mon 08-Jun-15 21:33:19

Apparently he is not a very good strategist, which is the conclusion I was coming to. I dont think that he is wily.

Ana Mon 08-Jun-15 21:36:45

This is probably a thread best left to the tory-bashers, soontobe, any attempt at reasonableness will not be countenanced! grin

soontobe Mon 08-Jun-15 21:37:37

Having now read the link though. hmm.

soontobe Mon 08-Jun-15 21:38:48

You might be right Ana smile

annodomini Mon 08-Jun-15 21:50:15

Never mind Jilly Cooper, jessM, what we need is a Trollope (NOT Joanna) for this century.

FarNorth Mon 08-Jun-15 21:54:47

Ana, if you'd like to give reasonableness a go, I'll have a go at countenancing it.

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 08-Jun-15 21:55:29

Oh this is total rubbish. Cameron simply wants to get the best deal he can for Britain from the EU, and then get a referendum result in favour of staying in. He has taken a helluva gamble by saying there will be a referendum, and now he is probably, slightly panicking. Who can blame him?

This is the popular press at it's best/worst. hmm

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 22:08:08

It just happens to be every bit of the media that got it wrong, then, jingl?
I do not think so.
He should not get things like that wrong. His only other job was in PR.

merlotgran Mon 08-Jun-15 22:14:53

Is this Frankie Boyle the not very funny comedian or am I thinking of another Frankie Boyle.

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 08-Jun-15 22:21:08

He never actually said anyone would have to resign. Just that he expected his party to stay solid behind him. It'S too important to let the backbenchers squabble about it. Or for idiots like David Davies to try to hog the limelight momentarily.

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 22:21:08

Yes, it is, but the other links are not by him. I do not like him swearing but he does not do that in the article. His first job was in a mental hospital, so maybe he can recognise a psychopath when he meets one.

Ana Mon 08-Jun-15 22:21:30

It is indeed that Frankie Boyle, merlot, although he seems to have grown a big, bushy beard as an attempt to disguise himself!

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 08-Jun-15 22:21:48

The press made exactly what they wanted to make of it.

Ana Mon 08-Jun-15 22:23:04

Oh, what a ridiculous thing to say, durhamjen! grin
(remember, they're tracking your every word...)

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 08-Jun-15 22:23:08

You are talking junk durhamjen. I doubt if even he expects that codswallop to be taken seriously. grin

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 22:24:35

He was talking about the front bench, not the back bench, jingl. He knows he's got 50 backbenchers lined up against him, because they want out anyway. They can hold him to ransom right up until the referendum, as he only has a majority of twelve, so he'd better not upset too many of them.

durhamjen Mon 08-Jun-15 22:26:29

Good heavens, a thread on party lines. Shouldn't you take your own advice, Ana?