David Cameron: a toe-curling moment?
“While Theresa May entered the final frenetic days of a general election campaign, her predecessor was having an altogether more relaxing time,” said Robin de Peyer in the London Evening Standard. David and Samantha Cameron celebrated their wedding anniversary last week in a boutique hotel in Spain. Samantha marked the event by posting a photo of their feet on Instagram, accompanied with the words: “Married for 21 years today!”
There has been “a degree of sniffiness” concerning the foot selfie, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. “I don’t mean sniffiness in olfactory terms”: the feet look “well maintained, without a verruca in sight”, and strangely smooth. But some complained that the timing was “questionable”. As Cameron’s party limped, battered by negative polls, towards election day, it may not have been a helpful contribution. Arguably, though, there is never a good time to see a former PM’S feet. “Did Churchill unleash his toes? Did Harold Wilson publicly entwine his bunions with Mary’s?” Let’s not beat around the bush, said Kevin Maher in The Times. The picture is “slightly gross”: it has a post-coital feel about it. It’s certainly “overintimate”, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. But what’s worse is that the toes seem so “demanding and imperious”. The picture doesn’t say: “Ooh, look at us having fun on our anniversary.” It says: “Kiss my feet.” Even from “beyond the political grave”, Dave appears “superior”, offering up his feet while everyone back home clears up the “silly mess” he left behind.
Cameron’s behaviour since leaving office has been “quirky”, said Andrew Pierce in the Daily Mail. He spent £25,000 on a “chic” shepherd’s hut in which to write his £800,000 memoirs. He made a bizarre short video with Arnold Schwarzenegger, posted by the actor, in which he declared: “I’ll be back.” And recently he was filmed by a member of the public trying to queue barge while buying white sports socks at JD Sports on Oxford Street; he was reportedly heard “muttering loudly that he was going to be late for an appointment with Barack Obama”. Perhaps, like so many former PMS, David Cameron is struggling to adapt to life outside No. 10.