Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/28/cameron_radio/

Cameron escapes Twitter twat rap

We can let you do that, Dave

By Christopher Williams

Posted in Legal, 28th September 2009 14:25 GMT

Ofcom has ruled that David Cameron did not break broadcasting rules when he told breakfast radio listeners that politicians who use Twitter risk making a "twat" of themselves.

The Tory leader also used the words "pissed off" during his July appearance on banal guitar pop station Absolute Radio, before adding "sorry, I can't say that in the morning".

Today Ofcom - which received 20 complaints - declined to take action against the station. "In the context of the interview and the programme overall the remarks did not breach the broadcasting code," it said.

After the show, presenter Christian O'Connell said Cameron's press secretary "leapt out of her skin" as her boss adopted his laddish vocabulary. In a debrief Cameron reportedly claimed "that's [twat's] not a swear word".

He later apologised.

The Tory leader has so far personally resisted the Twitter craze among the political class, although many of his subordinates have succumbed. ®