Grip and Grin @ No.10

The carpet cleaners have been in! The window cleaners have been in! Arturo and me have had no peace! Only two weeks to go and then the fun will really begin! All we ask is for a quiet life but it sure ain't been quiet around here!

Arturo heard the 'World at One' on BBC Radio 4 on Monday and nearly choked himself when he heard one reporter say of 'Boy David' Cameron that he was all 'grip and grin'! Well - I ask you!! All grip and grin - it's worse than the expressions 'pressing the flesh'! or 'where's the beef?'

There's a frenzy of politicians trying to appear something they ain't. For example: Ed 'Hello Gromit' Miliband has had a veritable plethora of supposedly swooning women following him. The MailOnline had the following article by Tom Mctague:

Miliband wins ANOTHER female fan: TOWIE star Lydia Bright reveals she would 'definitely snog or marry' the Labour leader

Reality TV star said Mr Miliband 'definitely' topped her list of politicians

She was asked who she would pick in a game of 'snog, marry or avoid'

Bright said Mr Miliband was 'good looking' and had 'good dress sense'

It comes after the Labour leader became an unlikely pin-up for teen girls

Thousands of teenagers took to Twitter claiming to be 'Milifans'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3057348/Only-Way-Essex-star-Lydia-Bright-reveals-definitely-snog-marry-Ed-Miliband.html

There's more. The Guardian's Rebecca Ratcliffe wrote :

Ed Miliband has developed an unlikely fanbase of smitten teenage girls, after a 17-year-old student declared her admiration for the Labour leader on Twitter and prompted a flood of replies from other young women.

A student, known only as Abby, caused a Twitter storm after declaring herself leader of the #milifandom – a group of enthusiastic Ed Miliband admirers. Fandoms are usually reserved for the likes of Justin Bieber and One Direction, but the #milifandom hashtag has been trending, with scores of young females sharing their affection for the leader.

Abby says the Milifandom, which started last week, is “a movement against the distorted media portrayal of Ed”.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/22/milifandom-soars-with-twitter-backing-for-labour-leader-ed-miliband

Arturo read all this with evident amusement - "It'll drive Lynton Crosby wild! What's he going to think up to counter this?"

The answer was the Cameronettes! The BBC reported:

The hashtag #milifandom has been used more than 28,000 times in the past 24 hours. A counter-surge by Conservative supporters, #cameronettes, attracted around 8,000 tweets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32414313

You MUST see the video Hannah Henderson posted on that BBC site. In this - 'Wailing Lad' Clegg, the 'Amazon Warrior' Sturgeon and 'Frantic' Farage are also portrayed in one guise or another! It's amazing what a politician will do to get a vote!

But it was on the 27 April that 'Boy David' Cameron was forced to reconfigure his image. Why then, you may ask! Could it have been because of the knock-about interview that 'Mop Head' Johnson and Ed 'Hello Gromit' Miliband had on the Marr Show?

Or perhaps it was because Rupert 'Interfering Old Git' Murdoch tweeted:

UK. Failure to win majority against either Brown in crisis or Miliband would mean chop for Cameron. Open talk today in party and press.

Whatever the spur - Cameron gave a performance reminiscent of a none too eager boxer trying to impress his opponent by shadow boxing with sham gusto! Just read Michael Deacon in The Telegraph whose article

David Cameron gets 'pumped up' during speech on election campaign

appeared under a video repeating ad nauseum Cameron shouting

"Taking a risk; having a punt; having a go - that pumps me up!"

Deacon wrote:

Well. After that speech, David Cameron probably needed to go and lie down in a darkened room. I know I did.

Critics of the Conservatives’ campaign have been complaining that the Prime Minister lacks “passion”. This morning, during a speech in London about small business, he decided he was going to prove them wrong.

There was no lectern. No seats. Not even a microphone. Instead, he just shouted.

“THAT’S WHAT PUMPS ME UP!” he bellowed, referring to his “PASSION FOR BUSINESS”. “IF YOU THINK I’M GOING TO ROLL OVER IN THE NEXT NINE DAYS, YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER THINK COMING!”

He was shouting so loudly I practically had to hang on to my hair to stop it from blowing clean off my scalp.

Arturo and I had heard the speech on the radio and nearly choked on our sardines.

Deacon went on to comment on the performance from Cameron:

When the speech had finally blown itself out, journalists asked him what was behind this eye-popping change in style. “IF I’M GETTING LIVELY IT’S BECAUSE I FEEL BLOODY LIVELY!” blared the Prime Minister. His face was by now a raging crimson. He looked like a sunburnt lobster. Or a red Incredible Hulk.

Well, you’ve got to give the man credit for trying.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11565592/David-Cameron-gets-pumped-up-during-speech-on-election-campaign.html

Arturo and me aren't too sure the 'pumped up' act will do 'Boy David' Cameron any favours. By the end, he was puce and sweating - totally out of condition! Not a pretty sight!

As for 'Wailing Lad' Clegg - he never seems to learn from the past - on the Sky News LIVE BLOG General Election 2015 - there was the following report:

He (Clegg) told reporters on the battle bus: "That is a first major red line for us and that we won't enter into any governing arrangement that does not meet that funding test for support for nurseries, schools and colleges, from cradle to college.

"I think it is only fair that we say to the British people 'if you vote for the Liberal Democrats this is what you will get - no ifs, no buts, this is a deal breaker'."

http://news.sky.com/story/1443818/live-blog-general-election-2015

Now - if my memory is correct that little phrase 'no ifs - no buts' has a certain checkered history - recall Cameron's immigration promises, do you?

As I was musing on all this, Arturo said, "Remember Clegg's pledge about tuition fees, before the last election? Surely, anything to do with education should have dropped like a hot potato! A veritable hostage to fortune."

Phew! What a day - and things, as they say, can only get worse! As for me and Arturo - we're eating in tonight. The place is empty and there are some tasty leftovers from Lynton Crosby's assistants! There are some perks to living here in Downing Street! There'd have to be!

Bye