Cameron is just doing what Thatcher did

Watching Michael Cockrell’s documentary on Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power last night, I was struck by how many times she was interviewed with her family. Just after her maiden speech she was interviewed on the family sofa with her son Mark, then 6, climbing all over her. As she was running for the Tory leadership, Carole and Mark—then 21—were interviewed for World in Action about how they felt about their mum’s political career. It all put David Cameron’s decision to allow ITN to film his family eating breakfast into perspective.

My point is not that it makes Cameron’s actions any better or worse, but that it shows that he was just doing what politicians have traditionally felt they had to do to humanise themselves. If they are guilty of invading their children’s privacy, then the media culture is also guilty of pressuring them into doing so.