I Swear This Won’t Do Cameron Any Harm

Dan Clifford, director at Haslimann Taylor, writes:

In a world rocked by recession, sweeping global illnesses, corruption, and war, the news finally peaked this week with the breaking story that David Cameron needs his mouth washed out with soap and water.

In a radio interview Cameron explained away his un-cool absence from the world of Twitter by trying to fashion a cool reply “too many twits might make a twat”.

My first reaction was to burst out laughing, not because I think it was clever (and I’m fairly sure it was preconceived) and not because I think it would have struck a chord with younger voters (which has been rumoured to be his motivation) – I laughed mainly because it was absurd and bizarre and in a serious world it offered some entertaining light relief.

Arguments are already raging about whether twat is a swear word or not (which in itself is brilliantly funny) and broadsheet newspapers are running lengthy articles on the origins of the word and the way that different upbringings lead to different perceptions of its vulgarity.

Mr Cameron probably tried too hard when he followed it up with the expression “pissed off” as he summarised the publics feelings about the expenses scandal, and he does have to be careful that his efforts to be cool don’t turn him into the cringeworthy uncle who tries to be ‘down with the kids’. You would have hoped that ‘Hug a Hoodie-gate’ would have taught him some lessons.

However, I think the commentators who are now trying to say that Cameron will regret this slip of the tongue are missing the point; choosing to focus on the fact that his attempts to prove he is a man of the people have, in fact, shown the opposite.

But that does not take into account the fact that people already know that nearly all politicians are detached from the real world – and that being the case voters don’t expect to connect with them in this way.

What Mr Cameron has shown is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, he’s not arrogant enough to think we should all like him just because he’s a clever politician and knows that he has work to do on his public image. But most importantly, he has shown us that swear word or not, we’re more interested in someone saying “twat” than the majority of other words spoken by our politicians.