David Cameron’s rapidly unfolding football nightmare

So earlier today David Cameron mixed up Aston Villa (who he claims to support) with West Ham. Since then, things have gone downhill quickly for the Prime Minister despite the best efforts of the Sun (bless them) to spin that this was a speechwriters error.

Unsurprisingly, his bête noire (and Norwich obsessive) Ed Balls took the mickey out of him:

But so did Gary Lineker:

And Matt Lucas:

https://twitter.com/RealMattLucas/status/591905298572447745

But that was only the start, because when you look into David Cameron’s football fandom, it all falls apart very quickly.

Firstly – is he an “ardent fan” like he once told the Evening Standard, or is he not a football fan, like he told the Commons in 2001? He told fellow MPs that “Many of those who have spoken in the debate or have written about the subject are either lawyers or football fans, but I have to confess that I am neither”. PA report today that “The first mentions in the national press of Mr Cameron’s liking for the club came after he was elected Tory leader in 2005. He was reported in 2006 to have written on his blog that he “half-heartedly” supported Villa and could name only three of their players.”

Only recently he seemed to have forgotten that Villa were closing in on FA cup success:

https://twitter.com/MarinaHyde/status/591898315375128576

And he really understands the football lingo, saying that Villa strike Benteke will “pop them in the net” and that he’s looking for some “Villa gains”. (We call them “wins” Dave or “victories”. Never “gains” – gains are what happens when you win seats in an election.)

And if Cameron is a Villa fan, he’d remember the one and only time his beloved Villans won the European Cup, wouldn’t he?

Now this is all very funny – that David Cameron is effectively Roger the Nouveau Football Fan from the Fast show – but there is a more serious point here. One of Cameron’s key negatives with voters is that he’s seen as a bit of a phoney, and no-one who cares about football (or knows anyone who does) believes that you can muddle up which football team you support. As an explanation of how fake the Prime Minister can be, this is pretty effective.

Update: David Cameron has just been on Murnaghan and made his Villa situation even worse:

Oh – and last night this happened too: