one has to wonder whether David Cameron actually studied the English language, the meaning of words and the use thereof.
Courtesy of England Expects, David Cameron replying to a question from Nigel Farage:
"I made a policy of having a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, and if the Lisbon treaty had been still extant at the time of government, we would have had a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. I don't believe Britain should leave the European Union, but I do believe there are powers we can retrieve from Europe to have a better balance."
From the Concise Oxford Dictionary:
"Extant: adj: (especially of a document) still existing, surviving [L. exstare exstant]"
This from a man who wishes to sign agreements on behalf of our nation, a man who cannot understand the meaning of a simple legal term? Sheesh!
So as England Expects states: when is the referendum then, Mr. Cameron?
6 comments:
I wonder if his parents think/thought all the money the spent on his education was worthwhile.
Has the belief that the people who attend expensive public schools and the elite universities are the cream of our society been an illusion all along?
jicL obviously :)
Why thankl you Witterer
Pleasure, GT!
A slip of the tongue, but not something I'd expect from someone in Cameron's position. A bit like the Colemanballs offerings in Private Eye.
The cast-iron promise was made and immediately edged away from when the Tories were in opposition. There seemed a stink chance that Brown would call a snap election and they needed something to drum up support.
Afterwards it became clear that the LT would be ratified and the Tories could afford to play up about it in opposition, knowing they'd never be called on it.
A lot of people allowed themselves to believe that the Tories would call a referendum on the LT whether it was ratified or not. The Tories found this mistake to be within their ends and went to lengths to encourage it slyly and did nothing to correct it.
Much of it was to maintain momentum for the Euro elections. If they'd come clean, they would have been hammered.
Eventually, the LT was ratified and they had to make it plain that they were going to do nothing, and that's what 'we would not let matters rest there' actually meant. William Hague then referred people to the small print.
When it became clear that they had been slippery and were quite happy to deceive people, their opinion poll ratings entered a decline.
Their behaviour since they have been in office has shown no serious inclination to attempt to reform the EU or repatriate powers. They have been as duplicitous as ever on the matter.
It's a reasonable supposition that had freak circumstances (Labour government calling a GE because of a massive scandal or whatever) caused the Tories had come to office before the LT was ratified, they would have behaved exactly the same as Labour and ratified the LT.
c: Agree - especially that Cameron is a sly fox (being polite for a change!)
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