Struggling with Reality

It’s an absolute fact that once you’re in the public eye everything changes. Politicians in particular struggle to get used to being public property. Perhaps it should be called the Camcleg law of diminishing contact with everyday realities, at least for the duration of this Parliament.

‘Call-me-Dave’ Cameron and his wife Sam’s latest PR stunt is a classic case of hubris gone awry. Why take a budget weekend break in Spain to prove to the great unwashed that he’s ‘just like us’? It is unrealistic: we all know that his life has long since left the realms of normality.

For crying out loud, Dave, you are the Prime Minister! You surely don’t really expect that taking a Ryanair flight and staying at a £100 budget hotel (bit of an oxymoron) will buy you some privacy or respect, do you? What are the paps supposed to do? “Oh the British PM and his missus need a getaway – let’s leave them in peace?” Please!

When is Dave going to get it? Public life is no longer simple. I am sure the prying lenses are not able to snap clandestine meets in the gentrified, privileged cabals of Oxfordshire. Cosy garden parties with Rebecca, Matt, James and Jeremy in the sleepy Cotswold do not require the same set up.

Come on Dave, try and find a narrative that gives more respect to the electorate. Being normal is a state of grace you’ll never achieve. Privilege and career politics is something you’re saddled with. Why not consider working on the complexities of brand honesty and offer up a distinctive narrative that we can come to terms with?

Life for those high up the greasy pole is precarious. Memo to the spin machinists – don’t try and humour the electorate because they are quite willing to shake said pole if needs be and they will always have the last laugh…