The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Cameron calls Aidan Burley a twat

The Prime Minister's artful put-down of the troublesome Tory MP.

By George Eaton Published 30 July 2012 16:34

David Cameron at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games.

Samantha Cameron, David Cameron and Boris Johnson during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Photograph: Getty Images.

Unsurprisingly, David Cameron was keen to condemn Conservative MP Aidan Burley's description of the Olympics ceremony as "leftie multi-cultural crap." Here's what he told the BBC:

I did once say something about people who use Twitter, particularly politicians, and I think in this case I was absolutely spot on. I think what he said was completely wrong. It was an idiotic thing to say.

In other words, the Prime Minister has just called one of his MPs "a twat".

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Tags: David Cameron Olympics Conservatives

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21 comments

Tue, 2012-07-31 22:40 — Igwe Tochukwu (not verified)

Cameron said the right thing..

Tue, 2012-07-31 14:26 — Pavlova

Pity Ed Milliband has nothing to say about his colleagues' Tweets and blogs:

Labour Minister for Social Justice and Local Government in the Welsh Assembly, Carl Sargent:

"This is the best Labour Party political broadcast I’ve seen in a while."

And:

"Working class history, multi-cultural, nhs, cnd, gay kissing. Well done comrade Boyle! Bet Dave is wriggling!"

The Labour MP Paul Flynn:

"Mayor Boris could not take it. He wept. What else was left to do? Boris is strangled by his pre-event hyperbole. He was at it again today spewing wild meaningless superlatives hoping to obliterate the eloquent messages of Danny Boyle on NHS, CND, war futility."

And:

"Wonderfully progressive socialist sentiments and ideas were smuggled into the opening romp. The Tory Olympic twosome were tricked into praising the Trojan Horse. Cameron and Boris could not condemn the wonders that they had praised to the skies 12 hours earlier."

Labour’s Paul Flynn MP:

"This was not British history as Michael Gove sees it. There was an acknowledgement of the suffering of war, respect for fallen warriors without triumphalism. The centrepiece NHS sign was a worthy celebration of the greatest single political reform of the last century. The CND symbol was formed by the dancers. This is history from the perspective of Classic Labour. "

Tue, 2012-07-31 20:16 — Indu Pendent

Just dont see it as left wing.

British industrialist invented the industrial revolution, the left came 150 years later. I thought the show projected our humility well. It said we were once a shitty country but grafted our way out of it, our entrepreneurs got rich and everyones living standards benefited. How more Tory deep blue could it have been!

Then ....
Promoting leveling up to high standards of Childrens education and literature --- Tory
Strong NHS backed by a productive modern economy --- Tory
etc etc.

CND was left wing for sure but irrelevant to the UK so should not have been included. CND only ever managed small minority support and had no impact at all on their cause (glasnost and peristroika did).

I thought Boyle was being sarcastic showing Mary Poppins leading the nanny state - I'm not sure anyone out side the UK would have got his joke.

I was disappointed they did not fit in Professor Higgs which would have been good for UK brand.

Sun, 2012-08-05 09:09 — Futile democracy (not verified)

What planet are you on?
High standards of education was Tory? A strong NHS was Tory? Seriously?
Do you think this is what Danny Boyle was thinking too? Maybe the gay kiss was a show of support for the Tory's tireless campaigns to promote gay rights? Like Section 28 and Cris Grayling's support for banning gay couples from b&bs.
I still can't get over the idea of a strong NHS being Tory.

Tue, 2012-07-31 14:14 — Pavlova

Cameron doesn't make clear whether he thinks what Aidan Burley said was wrong, just that it was foolish to use Twitter to say it. And we all know why that would be - because MPs expressing unpopular opinions in public, on Twitter draw the censorious instincts of the crowd.

Aidan Burley wasn't wrong, the ceremony was Leftie multicultural something, whether you regard that something as rubbish or a triumph is a matter of your politics. I would say that anyone with any integrity of either persuasion would find a multimillion pound party-political broadcast posing as something different, disquieting.

What is extremely worrying is that expressing a dissenting opinion about what has happened is being censored and stamped on. If nobody is allowed to publicly express disagreement with a party line then Adrian Burnley was also spot-on with his Communist comment.

Mon, 2012-07-30 20:56 — Indu Pendent

But George, Aidan Burley's is twat for what he said about the Olympics. I dont mind if he looses his seat for it. So whats the issue? Good for Cameron for saying so - he'll win support for it.

Tue, 2012-07-31 00:25 — Steve AM (not verified)

Cannock will go back to Labour.

Tue, 2012-07-31 10:50 — Robert Taggart

More fool Cannock !

Mon, 2012-07-30 18:43 — p j wall (not verified)

It could of been worse, he could of called him a complete 'Jeremy Hunt'!!, after all, he lost his 'Bell End' whilst shaking it in public!!!!!.

Tue, 2012-07-31 02:13 — ClaireL (not verified)

Can't you write English properly? It's not "of" - it's "have":

It could have been worse, he could have called him....
or abbreviated like this:
It could've been worse, he could've called him...

Tue, 2012-07-31 06:44 — McMac

What's wrong with you? You don't understand how language works.

Tue, 2012-07-31 09:17 — Indu Pendent

Shouldn't of we of improoved skool's standards not make excooses for it? -- half of all people who leave state schools after 13 years of Labour do so without GCSE maths and english. Not an achievement ever mentioned by the Labour spin machine - wonder why? Its inspite of the Billions spent on school buldings, inflation busting pay rises and back office admin.

Tue, 2012-07-31 10:35 — bill23 (not verified)

I don't think the country will ever recover from what the Labour party did. Not just the destruction of the economy (Conservatives, are just as bad, supporting banks off the backs of the poor), but the political correctness which has elevated the most stupid and destructive forces in society - the police and local government - to positions of absolute and unasaleable power. Nothing will ever be done about PFI schools and police stations, but a country run by ignorant people is bound to force the smart-money to leave. What will we be left with then; criminal bankers!

Mon, 2012-07-30 17:21 — hugh markey (not verified)

Surely Dave meant to call that gruppenfuhrer or storm-trooper or whatever - a twit!

LOL

Mon, 2012-07-30 17:09 — Sam Cope (not verified)

@MARCUS BESSNER are you Aidan Burley in disguise?

Good job at trying to change the subject whilst keeping to the same misguided, unintelligent undertones of resentment.

Mon, 2012-07-30 16:57 — Marcus Bessner (not verified)

It will be interesting to see how many of Britain's Gold Medallists ( if there are going to be any ) will be won by genuine WASPS. My guess is very few - most of them will be celebrated more widely in diverse former colonial countries. ! To-date we have had to listen to boring monologues on the BBC from Britain's losers revealing "why they didn't win". They were just not as good as the winners - that's all. No interviews have been given to the actual winners. Nobody is interested in "losers". Why doesn't BBC waken up ?
We don't pay our license fee to listen to whingers. The winners are the heroes - we want to hear from them.

Tue, 2012-07-31 14:22 — Pavlova

"It will be interesting to see how many of Britain's Gold Medallists ( if there are going to be any ) will be won by genuine WASPS."

Well if you want a clue look at the British winners of the 2008 Olympics, and look at the demographics of Team GB in the competitors' parade.

90% of the British Athletes, the volunteers, spectating crowds, organising committee all had one thing in common: they are white.
And yet 100% of the British flag carriers had something else in common: they weren't.

Now I don't know about you, but that kind of random, apolitical coincidence seems kind of spooky.

Tue, 2012-07-31 15:10 — Muddy-Mae Suggins (not verified)

You're saying Chris Hoy isn't white?

Tue, 2012-07-31 15:13 — Muddy-Mae Suggins (not verified)

Oh right, 2008 you said.

So you're claiming Mark Foster isn't white instead.

Tue, 2012-07-31 00:28 — Steve AM (not verified)

The BBC speaks to the British losers for the reason that they are representing Britain. Just as much as the other losers will speak to their own country’s broadcasters.

Mon, 2012-07-30 16:57 — Marcus Bessner (not verified)