David Cameron’s aides provided him with a cheat sheet with the price of a pint of milk so he didn’t get caught out on TV
Average prices were used so it did not always go right for the then Prime Minister
DAVID Cameron appeared to be a man of the people knowing the cost of everyday items thanks to a regularly updated cheat sheet – but it didn’t always work.
The document, prepared by aides, seems to have been designed so the then Prime Minister could answer awkward questions from the media about the cost of living.
It included the price of a loaf of bread, a pint of milk, instant coffee, a litre of unleaded petrol and diesel, as well as a 20 king size cigarettes and the cost of a single Tube journey in central London.
Back then he said: “I don't buy the value sliced loaf, I've got a breadmaker at home which I delight in using and it turns out in all sorts of different ways.
“But you can buy a loaf in the supermarket for well north of a pound."
The crib sheet, which reports was called the data dashboard, also included useful information for any PM – like the rates of VAT and income tax, fuel and tobacco duty.
It also included the disability living allowance, housing benefit and working tax credits, as well as GDP growth, the rate of unemployment and average earnings.
The sheet was mainly for internal affairs and the then Prime Minister did not have a crib sheet keeping him up to date with the names of foreign leaders.
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She accused the presenter Dermot Murnaghan of sexism after he asked her to name the French foreign minister and the leader of South Korea.
After claiming she was “in the process” of arranging to go and speak with her counterpart in Paris, she was asked: “Do you know who he is?”
She responded: “Don’t start pub quizzing me Dermot.”
Asked again if she knew who he was she replied: “No. And I’m not going to start answering your questions on this.”
Interrupting the presenter she said: “Do you know what Dermot, do you know what really upsets me about your attitude to me, is that you do this with me – I don’t remember you doing it with anybody else you know.
“Have you done it with David Davis, have you asked these questions, do Sky journalists have a go at Boris Johnson on this basis, how about Liam Fox, do you do pub quizzes with them?”
She added: “It really upsets me that every time I come on here you do another pub quiz with me because you do not do it with anybody else and I do think it’s patronising.
“Sometimes when it comes to sexism, some Sky presenters need to look at themselves too.”
Maths has been a stumbling block for ministers over the years – including in 1998 for the then schools minister Stephen Byers.
He was asked what eight times seven was and replied “54”.
And in 2013 during the Tory Party conference Boris Johnson proved he needed a cheat sheet as he admitted he did not know the price of a pint of milk.