Cameron regrets bike-followed-by-chauffeur incident

Speaking to Radio 1 yesterday the Tory leader said...

• He now uses his Lexus on everyday but Wednesday: "I just find it really helps me, otherwise I'd never get to see my family I'd never get my work done - I can get a huge amount of it done in the back of the car."
• About the car following his bike: "That did happen once or twice and I've now made sure that it will never happen again ... I have a huge amount of paperwork that I carry to work with me. I now make sure that when I do bicycle on a Wednesday, no car follows me. If I have papers to carry they go in a pannier on my bike and I can promise you that will never happen again."
• Businesses can help cyclists: "There's something businesses can all do there to help, you know if more businesses installed more showers at work then more people would would be able to bicycle, so everybody should be thinking what can I do to help with the issue of climate change."

More on BBC Online.

Comments

[James Maskell]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Cameron you mug! People avoid riding bicycles because its so dangerous on the roads, not because there arent showers at work. Id feel pretty awkward cycling to work and then asking the boss if I can use his bathroom to freshen up.

Why is Wednesday a special case? Is it not contradictory to say he will never have the car follow, apart from Thursday to Tuesday?? Never means never...add conditions and its not "never".

[Brian Jenner]

He's trying to give the brand some integrity, which is good.

At least he's taken the Tory Party a million miles away from the Thatcher/Norris snobs who used to think that if you travel on public transport/ride a bike over thirty, you are some kind of loser.

[Richard Willis]

What happens on Wednesdays is PMQs!

[EML]

I have to respectfully disagree with you Maskell. I actually cycled in to work for the first time today, and, as a reasonably experienced cyclist, I was more concerned about getting hot and sweaty and not having any decent facilities at work to cleanse myself (and getting my shirt in without it getting too creased).

I am not sure what it is like in other parts of the country, and I have certainly heard horror stories from London cyclists, but up here in Birmingham I find that it isn't too dangerous as long as you pay attention and keep your eyes and ears alert all the time. Brummy drivers are surprisingly considerate towards cyclists, although there is always the odd idiot who doesn't care for anyone else's interests.

[James Maskell]

Just read the BBC article...riding on a Wednesday gets him going. So the ten sugars you have before doesnt?

The point I was making is that Wednesday should not be a special case. Its a work day like any other. He should use his bike as often as possible to set an example...

[Derek]

Of course he regrets it now it has been pointed out. Surely politicians need to think ahead a bit more. If he can get caught out on a simple thing like that then what about complex policy issues under the heat of cross-examination?

[Chad]

Well to be fair, better he rides one day a week (without the Lexus following) than all 5 days in the Lexus.

He got caught out, he's promised it'll never happen again, and I'm sure our ever watchful press will be on his case if he slips up.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"Well to be fair, better he rides one day a week (without the Lexus following) than all 5 days in the Lexus."

How does your pal Nige get to work, Chad?

[Tam Large]

The chauffeured bike ride will be remembered as Cameron's baseball cap - Hague was the trail blazer on this sort of "image" idiocy.

[Chad]

"How does your pal Nige get to work, Chad?"

A union-jack emblazoned convertible e-type jag of course.

Yeah, baby, yeah!

[anon]

I am starting to wonder whether the focus on style of substance is going to end up haunting project Cameron in ways that were not previously perceived. Sound-bites make great headlines and build our awareness with those members of the public who may not have previously been disposed to voting Conservative, but I am beginning to become concerned that media spin and PR are taking the place over consistency. Now before the Cameron's accuse me of having a dig a DC and the modernisation project, please note that I genuinely want him to succeed and form the Government at the next general election. However, I do want to examine the facts.

As I understand it the route from his home in Notting Hill to Westminster is approximately 5 miles. I am free to be guided in this but if we assume that his car journey takes 30 minutes (allowing for traffic), then its not unreasonable to assume his cycle into Westminster is also likely to take a similar amount of time (this assumes that DC is cycling at a not unreasonable 10 miles an hour). Therefore his comment about it causing him a lack of time to complete his work doesn't seem to be credible (it’s a 30 minute commute one way or the other). Personal hygiene (showering) can be undertaken either at the start (if travelling by car) or the finish (if by bicycle) with no discernable impact on his working day.

Working in the back of a car (i.e. using a laptop) is neither comfortable nor productive at the best of times therefore lets assume that DC is engaged in conference calls, or responding to emails. The use of a Bluetooth headset would enable him to engage in a conference call whilst cycling so the impact on his working time is negligible. If his time is being used to be updated on current issues then this information could be put into MP3 format and listened to whilst cycling. Alternatively he could use the time to collect his thoughts on how best to bring about a Conservative government.

Now I expect to be rubbished for raising this question but merely scratching the surface does highlight the holes in the argument and increase my concern that this is a publicity stunt that has the potential to cause an enormous amount of embarrassment for both DC and the party.

I can see an addendum to our current slogan. Vote Blue, Go Green. But only on Wednesday’s.

[Deckchair of despair]

This may be an obvious point, but having showers at work would considerably increase the use both of scarce water and of electricity, not to mention the use of energy and materials in the construction of the showers and changing rooms. These costs all have to be factored in, in order to work out whether anybody is saving anything in the end or not; but it is, of course, typical of politicians' off-the-cuff remarks that they never are. Most progress, whether scientific or social, has depended on the aggregation of small changes. It is always the small details which are important - but politicians are the last people to ever understand that.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"Everybody should be thinking what can I do to help with the issue of climate change"

Hasn't David Cameron recently been on a helicopter tour of the country? How is that helping with the issue of climate change?

[anon]

DVA makes a valid point, and it is this focus on style over substance that I was referring to when hinting that DC's posturing could come back to haunt him in ways which are pretty unhelpful.

A quick review of DC's Register of Members Interests reveals a number of helicopter and plane flights. What pray is the defence? My work is more important than yours so listen to me when I say you should cycle but ignore me when I do get on a helicopter or a plane? How does this convince people that his concern for the environment is as sincere as he says it is?

[Cynic]

The thing to remember about Cameron is that, he doesn't sweat.

[Jon Gale]

James Maskell,

"Why is Wednesday a special case? Is it not contradictory to say he will never have the car follow, apart from Thursday to Tuesday?? Never means never...add conditions and its not "never"."

He only cycles on a Wednesday, every other day he is in the Lexus himself. So it cant really follow him can it?

It was the "He now uses his Lexus on everyday but Wednesday" that gave it away.

[Denis Cooper]

Like wind turbines, all this is just so much PR-driven tinkering at the edges, of very limited value at best, with disadvantages which more or less outweigh the advantages, often with no basis in logic or common sense, and with no hope of passing muster without embroidery, or outright concealment, of the true facts.

As I recall, Mrs Thatcher in particular lauded and encouraged the emergence of a car-based society, that's what we've got, and so we're now dependent on cars.

Yes, it's still possible to live without owning a car, but with every year that passes that becomes a bit more difficult. Just as that process occurred over decades it will take decades to reverse, and faffing about cycling to work one day a week, provided it's not too hot, or too wet, or he's got too much to carry, or he's too busy to spare the time, is little more than a distraction from the proper task of developing a package of policies to gradually reduce our dependence on cars in particular, and on motorised transport in general.

[James Maskell]

So basically riding the bike is a gimmick...

[Goldie]

Well this whole issue is a pretty good proxy for his entire leadership. Empty, pathetic and increasingly ineffective.

[Andrew]

If I didn't know different, this page would be quite at home on a Labour website - the vitriol here is greater than that directed at Blair. Then again, many here are closet admirers of his, so that probably shouldn't come as a surprise.

[Richard]

"Then again, many here are closet admirers of his, so that probably shouldn't come as a surprise."

Usually it's the modernisers who are accused of admiring Blair!