Anyone who’s been watching the exchanges in the House of Commons recently can’t fail to have been struck by Cameron’s increasing inability to deal with those who oppose him with anything approaching equanimity. In fact he’s becoming so bad tempered, red-faced and shouty just lately I’m beginning to think, his odious politics aside, that he really is becoming a liability for the Tory party. Seriously, who could possibly want a rude obnoxious bully for a leader?
This time last year I was convinced Cameron’s shitty attitude towards others was a simple case of sexism, as he appeared to treat female MPs with even less respect and more disdain than he treated others. But after his embarrassing performance today, I’m starting to think there’s more to it than that.
What I initially saw as Cameron’s sexism was especially evident when he told Angela Eagle to “calm down dear” during prime minister’s questions in April 2011, and it was also on display last Autumn when he told Nadine Dorries, again during prime minister’s questions, that he understood she was ‘frustrated.’ Indeed, Cameron resisted the urge to end that sentence with a “nudge nudge wink wink say no more”, but the guffawing from those around him helped to ensure the point was made. And yes, much as it pained me to do so I did stick up for Dorries on that occasion, and I would again if she were subjected to similarly boorish and sexist behaviour from the PM, or from anyone else for that matter.
Then during last week’s PMQs Cameron patronisingly commented “well read” to another female MP who dared to ask him a question, leading even more people to wonder what exactly his problem is with independent, outspoken women.
Today however Cameron showed that it’s not necessarily just women he’s got an issue with, it’s actually anyone who doesn’t agree with his world view. And before anyone says “but that’s politics Cath, and surely something you must be used to as a trade unionist”, it’s not the fact that he disagrees with people that I think is the problem, but the way he goes about it.
During today’s urgent statement on the Jeremy Hunt situation for example, Dennis Skinner made a perfectly valid point: why is the culture secretary getting better employment rights than the rest of the working population? And what was Cameron’s intelligent and considered response to this?
“well, the honourable gentleman has the right, at any time, to take his pension and I advise him to do so.”
Honestly, that was the response from the Prime Minister of this country to a democratically elected MP.
There are some who are now branding Cameron ageist as well as sexist, and others who are pointing out that there’s a class thing going on on top of that. John Prescott in particular Tweeted earlier that “Cameron’s arrogant treatment of Dennis Skinner & Margaret Hodge proved class IS an issue in politics” – managing to beat me to the obvious punchline in the process:
I think Prescott’s got a point. Cameron’s sense of entitlement, a sense of entitlement incidentally that you rarely see from those brought up without privilege and from those who didn’t attend the so-called top public schools, is now so evident and in your face he’s fast becoming an embarrassment. And I think he’s becoming an embarrassment not just to the Tories but to the country at large.
This man is meant to be our Prime Minister; he’s also meant to be our representative on the international stage. And I don’t know about you, but every time he appears anywhere now I cringe, wondering what on earth he’s going to do or say next: and more importantly, wondering how long it’s going to be before he loses his temper and turns into red-faced shouty man yet again.
And personally I think we all deserve better. Believe it or not, I actually think the Tories deserve better too.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Posh Boy Cameron does not engage in ‘sexism’ he is a blatant misogynist and just because he also attacks male politicians who supposedly have more value and worth than we mere females does not mean Cameron’s misogyny can be relegated to a ‘trivial issue.’ The fact is Cameron has been constantly dismissive and contemptuous towards any woman who dares to challenge him and Cameron is merely enacting what innumerable men have been taught as boys and that is a woman’s opinion is irrelevant because the only ones a male should listen to and respect is another male.
However, Posh Boy Cameron has become so full of hubris he is now incapable of remembering male supremacist mantra and that is never publicly hold another powerful male in contempt because said male will always get his revenge.
Men such as Posh Boy Cameron commonly engage in bully boy tactics in a miserable attempt to hide either their ignorance or their lack of intelligence. Posh Boy Cameron is one such male individual and now his lack of intellectual grasp of affairs is becoming public. He has to hide his ignorance by engaging in personal attacks and whilst making misogynistic snide comments to female politicians is still accepted as ‘normal male behaviour’ when a male starts verbally engaging in personal put downs against other males then it becomes a ‘real issue!’
Losing one’s temper is not a sign of leadership – rather it is a sign Posh Boy Cameron is engaging in childish tantrums because other males are seeing through his postering and bully boy bluster.
I’m astonished that it hasn’t been an issue up ’til now – scratch the surface of Cameron and what emerges very quickly is an angry, nasty little man who peppered yesterday’s responses with ad hominems, of which the Skinner comment was the most blatant, but certainly not the only one. It’s hardly statesmanlike. His choleric response to anyone disagreeing with him is childish – and always has been. Quite how he has won any support in the party is beyond me, and beyond every (intelligent) Tory I know, too.
It doesn’t seem to be doing him any harm, politically, though.
I disagree with you, Chiller, in that I think Cameron’s manner is harming him politically and will ultimately finish him. For that reason I do not squirm quite so much as you, Cath but am hopeful. In the end politicians usually do it to themselves but I still find it surprising just how little self-control he has. Thanks for the post, Cath.
The problem is deeper than Cameron’s misogyny and arrogance. It’s a trend that runs throughout the upper echelons of the Tory party; the belief that they are born to rule and that any other government has no legitimacy. Cameron expresses this through his Posh Boy dismissal of anyone who doesn’t agree with him; Thatcher through her concept of the ‘enemy within’. There’s an anecdote going back to the 1945 election that exemplifies this belief: An upper class women dining in the Savoy is told the result of the general election. “They’ve elected the socialists” she exclaims with horror, “the country will never stand for it!”
The point is that the Tory party doesn’t care what the rest of us think about them as long as they are winning. Arrogance and misogyny are not a liability per se in the Tory party (in fact it’s the norm) but the Tory hierarchy will turn on Cameron when he’s seen to be a liability to their continued hold on power (cf. the fall of Thatcher). If Cameron can turn things around for the Tories they’ll keep him, if he fails they’ll replace him, and probably give that bastion of political correctness Boris Johnson a go.