It's the sort of question you would think a prime minister might be prepared for, giving a pre-conference interview to a women's magazine in an attempt to better connect with female voters: are you a feminist? And yet it left David Cameron seemingly flummoxed.
Being quizzed by Red magazine, Cameron paused for some time and side-stepped the issue. He replied: "I don't know what I'd call myself … it's up to others to attach labels. But I believe that men and women should be treated equally."
He added: "And there has been an historic disadvantage that women have faced, which governments need to help correct and I think that's what we've been doing."
Even this answer – which some might argue sounds like someone espousing feminism while seeking to avoid the label – took some effort. In a blog, interviewer Jane Johnson noted: "So I ask him straight: is he a feminist? He pauses and stares out of the window for what seems like a long time."
Cameron thus joins the long line of politicians found to be fully fluent in complex policy detail only to be caught out by something seemingly simple. That said, his pause before answering was nowhere near as long as Gordon Brown's famous 24-hour delay before revealing what sort of biscuit he likes ("anything with a bit of chocolate").
It's arguably little surprise to see Cameron struggle with feminism given his mixed record with female voters, with a poll this month finding him, by some distance, the party leader seen as most out of touch with women.
One issue has been the occasional glimpse of an apparently patronising attitude to women, notably the call in parliament to the Labour MP Angela Eagle to "calm down, dear". In the Red interview Cameron explained this as a joke gone wrong: "Look, I will never win this argument. I was quoting a [car insurance] advert, which my wife often quotes to me, thinking of Michael Winner. Anyway, I won't do it again."
The prime minister used the interview to argue that his government's record on women's issues was better than billed: "If you take the four issues – pensions, carers, pay and childcare – I'd say we've made pretty good progress on all of those."
He also stressed the importance of domestic life and how difficult it was to care for children, especially young ones like his three-year-old daughter. He said: "I am always struck when I am left in charge, which I am every now and then, that it is very, very hard work. In fact, over the weekend – it was only for the princely time of four o'clock on Friday to lunchtime on Saturday – I had Florence all on my own. I loved it and we had a fantastic time, but it's hard work … you are on it all the time."
The obligatory self-deprecating parenting anecdote came as he recounted taking over as his nine-year-old daughter, Nancy, made a fruit sorbet with an electric mixer: "Halfway through she said: 'Dad, you are just totally controlling – when am I going to get involved?' I suddenly realised I was hogging the whole thing. Classic male childcare."
