Was David Cameron 'Really Good' For The Country?

The nauseating Trump/Brexit mashup headline, courtesy of the Daily Star, no doubt had many backwards thinking Brexiteers waving their union jack flags and 'Go Home' placards in obvious joy.
Evgeny Gromov via Getty Images

Let's make Britain Great again.

The nauseating Trump/Brexit mashup headline, courtesy of the Daily Star, no doubt had many backwards thinking Brexiteers waving their union jack flags and 'Go Home' placards in obvious joy.

However with the nation divided in uncertainty about the country's impending Brexit, 'great' seems a little too ambitious and perhaps 'really good' is a more realistic aim.

In an apparent reflection of this, the capital has become the new home to artist David Shrigley's enormous black sculpture, Really Good.

The erection on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth, which has in previous years, seen a magnanimous blue cock sit opposite Nelson's rather large column, was unveiled this week by the Major of London, Sadiq Khan.

In a clear aversion to the satire of Shringley's work, Khan suggested that the statute of the hand with a suspiciously elongated phallic thumb, reflects the idea that a post-Brexit London is "open for business."

In recent months, nearby Westminster has of course played its own game of musical statues. 51.9% of the population gave a big thumbs up to Brexit which saw David Cameron resign as PM and Theresa May take her place on the main plinth at no. 10.

The cock in blue may be gone, but can the legacy of Cameron simply be replaced and forgotten by a thumbs up to a new PM?

I reveal all in Episode 3 of PokePolitics- Cameron The PR Politician.

Brexit was, of course, a PR stunt that backfired.

And can we really be surprised?

The EU referendum was, after all, delivered by Cameron, who's pre-Westminster position as director of corporate affairs for Carlton TV gave him a knack for PR spin.

The PR obsessed PM hit the headlines once more this week.

Former Chancellor Ken Clarke, in his newly-published memoirs, accused Cameron of prioritising PR over policy.

Clarke clained that Cameron was a 'huge admirer' of Tony Blair's 'disastrous' media-orientated government and used his "control freak discipline" over his cabinet "with steady injunctions about the use of set policy lines and slogans on all public occasions".

In addition former Downing Street director of communications Sir Craig Oliver, revealed that David Cameron attempted to influence the BBC's Brexit coverage during a conversation with director general, Tony Hall about the Royal Charter renewal.

So whether we turn the pages of the Gaurdian, retweet the Telegraph, watch the 6 O'Clock BBC broadcast or even rifle through the Daily Star, can we really believe what we hear?

If government influence over our media outlets really is so embedded in our culture, is it possible to fairly assess what is 'really good' for our country?

And as we draw closer to an impending Brexit, I'd like to think that Shringley's elongated thumb, which could equally be mistaken for a more explicative hand signal, is sending it's own message straight down Whitehall to the banks of Westminster.

Not convinced?

Well it's all about the spin, is it not?

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