Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/07/29/cameron_tweets/
Cameron condemns Tweeters as tw*ts
Blows election hopes with microblogging tirade
Posted in Legal, 29th July 2009 10:17 GMT
David Cameron risked alienating the UK's Twitterocracy and the Civil Service alike this morning when he suggested the microblogging service was for "twats".
The Tory leader also shocked listeners to slightly rock-ish radio station Absolute Radio by using the phrase "pissed off", demonstrating the sort of plain speaking with which he hopes to win over the (non-Twittering) UK electorate.
The shocking outbreak of mild swearing and Twitter-slating comes just a day after it emerged that the Civil Service is the process of converting itself into one giant Tweet factory.
Cameron was appearing on the Christian O'Connell show on Absolute Radio, The Times reports, to demonstrate that he has a life outside Westminster. Apparently it's in Notting Hill, and Oxfordshire.
During the interview, he careened off message to take a pop at Twitter. “The trouble with Twitter... The instantness [sic] of it [is that] too many twits might make a twat.”
(Actually, we think that's what he said. The Times coyly wrote t**t, and then helpfully told its readers that the actual word was a "vulgar synonym for the human vagina".)
While the station's audience of vaguely non-mainstream under-40s were reeling in shock, Cameron followed up by suggesting that “The public are rightly, I think, pissed off - sorry I can’t say that in the morning - angry with politicians.”
(The Times didn't have to point out what piss means - presumably Times readers know piss when they see it.)
Cameron's tirade sent his PRs racing for cover, with one of them apparently stating that while 'twat' is a vulgar word, it's not technically a swear word.
However, the real damage will of course be to Cameron's chances of ever seeing the inside of Number 10, now that's he's pissed off the microblogging elite of the British chattering classes by pointing out they're a bunch of twats. ®