David Cameron has accidentally described the 7 May election as “career-defining” when he meant “country-defining”, his third gaffe of recent days.
His mistake on Friday was immediately jumped on by his opponents as unintentionally revealing that he was more concerned about his own job prospects than the future of the UK.
It is likely that the prime minister will step down as Tory leader if he is voted out of Downing Street.
“This is a real career-defining … country-defining election that we face in less than a week’s time,” he told an audience at the headquarters of Asda in Leeds.
Over the past week, Cameron has also gotten the name of his football team wrong, saying West Ham instead of Aston Villa, and has forgotten the date of the general election – saying 9 May instead of 7 May.
His premiership has been remarkably gaffe-free, with the notable exception of allowing a television camera to pick up his regaling the former New York mayor with how the Queen “purred” down the line to him about the outcome of the Scottish referendum.
Cameron’s flurry of recent verbal slips might indicate that the strains of the election campaign and his heavy tour schedule are beginning to show.
Labour immediately mocked Friday’s slip, tweeting: “It’s all about Dave.”
Jon Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, added: “The problem with David Cameron is he always gets his priorities wrong. He puts his career before country, just as he puts a privileged few before working people.”
This week, the comedian Russell Brand, who interviewed Labour leader Ed Miliband, tweeted: “CEOs like Cameron are what make Britain a great company, I mean country.”
CEO's like Cameron are what make Britain a great company. I mean country.
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) May 1, 2015
