In a pair of oh-so-trendy headphones, portrait of a PM trying too hard to be cool
NO, it’s not an early April Fool... this really is David Cameron wearing a pair of £ 3 0 0 - pl us Union Jack headphones.
Not only that, but they are the ultra-cool Beats brand, designed by American hip-hop mogul Dr Dre and usually seen on the likes of Cara Delevingne, One Direction’s Harry Styles, Rita Ora and Justin Bieber.
In other words, people much younger and trendier than our 49year-old Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron, often mocked for his love of ‘chillaxing’, was pictured on a four-hour easyJet flight for a break in Lanzarote last week.
‘It was hysterical,’ said fellow passenger Wesley Grego, 37, of Sheringham, Norfolk. ‘People kept double - taking. I f ound i t hugely entertaining the whole way.’
And even the company behind the headphones poked fun at the PM, with a source saying: ‘Mr Cameron in his “cans”? Seemingly wanting to curry favour with the UK population by aligning himself with the coolest names... You’re not fooling us, Dave.’
The company identified Mr Cameron’s Beats as a pair of its £329.95 ‘Limited Edition Studio Wireless’ Union Jack design headphones which were released for the 2012 London Olympics.
They were sent to British athletes, including diver Tom Daley and tennis player Laura Robson, in an ‘ambush’ marketing campaign – the Beats brand was not an official sponsor of the Games but gained publicity when athletes were seen wearing them.
It was unclear last night where Mr Cameron got his from. But it appears he may in fact be the proud owner of two pairs of Beats headphones. Official documents listing gifts received by the Prime Minister show that in October 2013 he received a £199.95 pair of headphones from Beats Electronics International Ltd (clearly they weren’t so reluctant f or the product to be associated with him back then...)
Although those headphones were an official gift, Mr Cameron paid a sum of money so he could be allowed to keep them.
Downing Street was last night unable to clarify how many pairs of Beats headphones the Prime Minister has. But an aide said: ‘Two sounds excessive – but one of them could have broken of course.’
Quite what Mr Cameron was listening to on the flight to Lanzarote is not known. His taste in music includes 1980s gloom merchants The Smiths, one of whose songs he chose on Desert Island Discs – although it didn’t go down well with the band’s guitarist Johnny Marr, who later wrote on Twitter: ‘I forbid you to like it.’
The trendy headphones were also connected with No 10 in 2011 when Mr Cameron’s press chief Craig Oliver was photographed arriving for his first day at work wearing a pair of high definition, noise cancelling Beats, which are said to be designed for ‘on the street’ music.
His were less patriotically coloured, lacked the wireless feature of Mr Cameron’s, and cost a more modest £170.
The Beats headphone brand was launched in 2008. The company, which also launched a subscription-based music streaming service, was bought by Apple for £1.8billion in 2014.
The headphones’ designer Dr Dre has also been previously l i nked with Downing Street – through an unlikely connection with George Osborne.
Last year the Chancellor revealed in an interview with the Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine that he was a fan of the controversial ‘gangsta’ rap group NWA (N**gaz With Attitude), with which Dr Dre first found fame.
Mr Osborne said one of the best gigs he had ever been to was NWA at the Brixton Academy when he was a student.
The rap group was notorious for explicit tracks including **** Tha Police, which Mr Osborne has said elsewhere was his favourite song of theirs. The Chancellor has also reportedly said he once invited Dr Dre to Downing Street for tea.
‘Wanting to curry favour’