Thoughts on politics and life from a liberal perspective

Friday 6 August 2010

David Cameron needs a break

David Cameron made a mistake yesterday when he claimed that Iran has a nuclear weapon. This comes after a period in which he has done other things that some think are questionable, notably some remarks he made about Pakistan "exporting terror to India" whilst in Pakistan. Indeed he is holding talks with Pakistan's President Zadari today to try and patch up relations with him later today.


I think Cameron is just exhausted. If he was not, I expect he would not have "misspoken" as he did yesterday and that he would have found a more diplomatic way to make his Pakistan point. He has been on the go for many months without a break. There was the intense build up to the election directly after the New Year followed by the actual election campaign (where he deliberately had no sleep in the 48 hours before polls opened), then the 5 days of negotiation regarding the coalition and since then he has been Prime Minister without, as far as I can tell, a day off.

It's August. It's the silly season. Now is the time to take a proper break. He is likely to go on paternity leave in September too but that won't be a holiday!

Gordon Brown famously worked stupidly long hours and was very reluctant to take holidays. I hope that David Cameron learns from his mistakes. The last thing we need is another PM who refuses to get the rest that any human being needs.

He should take the rest of the month off and come back fully refreshed in September.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lets hope he does get some time off in August, as his baby is due soon so he'll get the double whammy of PM and new fatherhood!

Unknown said...

I agree, David "Gaffe" Cameron needs to take a summer break. At the moment it seems that every time he opens his mouth he sticks his foot in it.

Paul Walter said...

"Cameron is just exhausted"

Very charitable. Another interpretation could be that he is just utterly hopeless at foreign affairs. He has sod all sense of history. If he had even a modicom of historical feeling, he would not have made the Pakistan criticism in India and he would not have made the 1940/junior partners gaffe.

Foreign affairs is the area where David Cameron's learning curve needs to be at its steepest!

So when he eventually goes on holiday his highest priority ought to be to do some reading of history books!