GLIB? Yes, Prime Minister (POLITICAL SKETCH)

Taking to Faisal Islam, DIY-Dave was almost the perfect politician. Politic, diplomatic and "straightforward" - what more could the audience ask for? But did he speak "glib"? Surely not; that was reserved for his interviewer, at least according to the PM.

Cameron Clashes With Islam (Credits: Sky News)

Earlier John Ryley, Head of Sky News, had issued a rally cry to Sky employees to feel proud of this momentous first occasion. And they should - all of the camera crew, the researchers, the producers, the audience (including some don't-bullshit-me members), steady Anchor Kay... And the interviewer perhaps most of all. The show - it was spectacular - had all the right movements and devices.

The only part missing, perhaps, was enough truth. The Prime Monster (that was auto-check) was polite (greeting members of the audience with a 'good evening' or 'hello' [insert name]); Kay looked glamorous and trusty as ever; and the interviewer bandied his "15 Years" of work experience in "economics". But HE was accused of being "glib." Six times. Now, Cameron has been accused of telling porkies - but wasn't it he who said, "It doesn't need to be Christmas to know you're sitting next to a turkey?" 

The PM may not have 'got away with it' this time. One audience member, who asked a perfectly direct (though perhaps longggg)  question, didn't like the indirect answer she was given. "I'm an English student, I know waffling when I see it," said she...  Proudly?  And Faisal identified "Classic Cameron" campaigning - "scaremongering," as has been the accusation many times previously. 

"I know waffling when I see it" (Creds: Sky News)

Derived from Old English, the noun 'scaremonger' has "roots in the Latin mongo (a dealer or trader), and has cousins in Old Saxon, Old Icelandic, and other Germanic sources." But its derogatory insinuation came from about the 16th Century: "a person engaged in a petty or disreputable trade or traffic.” To me, contested Mr Cameron," this is not about scaremongering: I am genuinely worried." I don't think that was supposed to be open to interpretation, but I don't think it's the Waffle Wot Won It.

If there's anything DIY-Dave can do, it's build an argument. His former PPE professor has said it; his friends would say it; and, alluring to his time as a SPAD in his maiden speech many years ago, HE said it. The problem currently is that some people think he has NOT "fixed" the economy, he HAS "fixed" the ref-result... But a "DIY-Recession" (of which he and Chancellor Osborne warned, if we Vote "Leave") would be OUR fault.

This is the "special" man who won "special status" for the UK. But he's been accused, rightly or wrongly, by some Big Blue Beasts, of "corroding public trust". So when DIY-Dave said "I don't get to choose the next Prime Minister," it may have seemed judicious and politic In Name Only.

In the 1990s, Conservative Americans used "RINO" to describe Republicans In Name Only. Cameron is in his own time feared to be a Eurosceptic In Name only (expediency points for anyone who can make an acronym) and other things. "Are there frustrations?" he asked. I don't get to choose who the next Prime Minister is either: but I think it was impolitic and wrong of THIS Prime Minister to accusse his accuser of being "glib."

A laughing matter? (Credits: Sky News)