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Second Rank

Thomas Jones

The government's fifth columnist at the Guardian, Julian Glover, is to be David Cameron's new chief speech writer. He has apparently 'impressed the Downing Street team with his passion for the Coalition over the past year'. (His assessment of Cameron's conference speech a year ago could have been mistaken for a job application, displaying broad enthusiasm tempered with a few minor criticisms to show how he could improve things.) In the wake of Wednesday's blustery performance you might think that the prime minister's office should be looking for someone who wasn't already such a fan to sharpen the metaphors and hone the soundbites. Indeed, rumour has it that Glover may not have been Downing Street's first choice, but Glen Newey turned them down.


Comments


  • 7 October 2011 at 2:39pm
    outofdate says:
    Yes, isn't he wonderful? The gormless mug alone. The Guardian lists among his most recent entries a piece headlined 'Cameron's best hope now is to be dull,' suggesting they got the the right man after all.

    Then again, does anyone remember John Major? He was prime minister at one time, total disaster, yet he was so boring, as a person if you like, that in cityboy pubs up and down the country as late as May 1997 you'd hear people braying, 'Safe pair of hands, safe pair of hands.' You never know...

  • 8 October 2011 at 1:01am
    NM says:
    How interesting. I'm quite surprised, simply because Glover's Guardian pieces always struck me as so very second-rate, from the recurrent (and slightly odd) food metaphors to the consistently shallow analysis. Isn't there anyone more capable around? Or have I missed something about Glover's writings?