If there is one political question that needs to be addressed today it is this: what sort of prime minister would David Cameron be? The voters may have decided they do not like Gordon Brown, but before they let go of Nurse they are entitled to ask whether the smooth, young man they are offered instead is not something worse.A year of privileged access to Cameron, combining lots of close-up observation with one- to-one interviews, would seem a wonderful opportunity to answer the question. You might get under the veneer. You might be able to tell people something new and important.
Well, Dylan Jones, the editor of GQ, had that opportunity, and he found out that Cameron "doesn't really like" Pot Noodles.
Dave, are you sure about this? Research tells us that nobody admits to liking Pot Noodles, but that everybody secretly likes them. I can see the advantage here of making a statement one way or the other: it gets us on the right side of the whole chav issue. But I think there’s a need to preserve some strategic ambiguity on the subject. Couldn’t we call in Dylan again and say something like you being partial to the very occasional Bombay Bad Boy?
No, Dave’s right. Pot Noodles are Broken Britain. Anyway, it’s time to show leadership. It’s like that thing about stopping the Russians shopping in Selfridges. You can always apologise in person to Roman Abramovich later. Right now, we need to take a lead on the issues: Georgia, snacks, whatever. It’s the aspirational position, too. OK, lots of people eat Pot Noodles. But they want to do better. They want to move on up. Be bold, Dave. You’re on their side.
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