Friday Night with David Cameron

Famous comedian come chat show host David Cameron interviewed rising politician Jonathan Ross this evening, or was it the other way around?

It was an interesting interview to say the least. Jonathan Ross certainly tried to raise his game, inspiring some question time style rounds of applause for his comments on legalising drugs and the Iraq war, yet he was no Jeremy Paxman. This was probably one of the reasons Cameron and his team decided to appear on the show.

While an obvious popularity stunt, Cameron and his team have to be admired for trying to reach out to the large proportion of the electorate who does not follow politics in depth. Anything that brings politics out of the houses of parliament or even the rather niche question time and newsnight slots and into mainstream viewing has to be commended.

While Ross tried to raise his game, Cameron had to try and strike a careful balance between laughing at Ross’ jokes and being a ‘normal person’ while also appearing as a statesman-like prime minister in waiting. I think Cameron did quite well, he came across as a likeable person who was willing to play along with Ross’ jokes. At times Cameron did try and force his political points through Ross’ barrage of jokes, almost making it seem he believed in something himself.

The main reason for watching however was to see the Tory leader squirm when asked whether he had a pin-up of Margret Thatcher as a teenager. The answer was a disappointing no, as was the answer to Ross’ follow-up question “so you didn’t imagine her in stockings then?”