Three little words and pfft, all that famed David Cameron ability to appear affable and above the bickering … gone. In its place, the prime minister as a patronising old uncle, cross that some woman just won’t listen to him.
And the words? Not gross domestic product, despite the worrying economic figures, but “calm down, dear”. Channelling Michael Winner in a downmarket home insurance ad? Now, there’s a vote winner.
The Labour party immediately demanded an apology but Cameron refused, saying: “I’m not going to apologise, you do need to calm down.”
Honestly, it’s probably a good thing there are no women on Cameron’s frontbench, as one of them would have had to get up and kick him.
Sadly, we can’t see the reaction of Angela Eagle, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and target of Cameron’s repeated taunt, in this clip. Across the floor of the house, she was too far away to kick him. But the reaction of others is telling, isn’t it? Nick Clegg, with so much egg over him in recent weeks that he was in danger of turning into an omelette, is stony faced with only a tiny smile as he realises that, at last, his coalition partner is the one who has said the stupid thing. Compare and contrast with George Osborne. The chancellor is guffawing so loudly his face is contorted. Maybe he’s just glad no one was talking about the economy.
Why does it matter? There will be dozens of Michael Winner lookalikes out there, maybe even the great man himself, queuing up to say it was a JOKE for goodness sake. You can’t say anything these days, can you, without some feminist getting her knickers in a twist?
So let me explain. “Calm down, dear” is patronising, it’s sexist in the same way saying someone dithering over a decision is “behaving like a woman” or that someone cannot be taken seriously as their voice is too high. It’s one of the phrases most likely to boil the blood of half your electorate. So stupid politically, too.
It is also bloody embarrassing for a prime minister who is a good generation younger than the bon vivant Sunday newspaper columnist to think he can say these things at PMQs and everyone will think he is funny. Does he think he’s Jeremy Clarkson? That’s almost worse than Winner.
It was left to Speaker John Bercow to interrupt the uproar in the House. “This makes a very bad impression for the public as a whole,” he said. It does indeed, Mr Speaker. And I won’t calm down until the prime minister starts using proper arguments rather than simply insulting women. – guardian.co.uk