British Media Pokes Fun at Prime Minister David Cameron After 'Letterman' Appearance
His failure to explain what Magna Carta means makes the headlines and leads him to tell the late-show host, "I've ended my career on your show tonight!"
LONDON -- British Prime Minister David Cameron's appearance on CBS' Late Show With David Letterman got much media attention in the U.K., with most poking fun at his "fail" on knowledge of British history. Across all media, both left- and right-leaning, Cameron's failure to say what Magna Carta meant in English was picked up.
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The Daily Telegraph, traditionally a Conservative-leaning newspaper, ran the story with a headline, "David Cameron braves David Letterman's U.S. chat show -- and leaves red-faced," saying: "David Cameron’s decision to brave one of America’s most-watched chat shows left the Prime Minister red-faced as he struggled to answer David Letterman’s questions about British history."
And The Guardian, a left-leaning paper, noted in its headline that Cameron "fluffs citizenship test on David Letterman's Late Show."
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The paper also noted the prime minister struggled with questions "about British music and the Magna Carta during his appearance on talk show."
The Daily Mail's website, one of the most read in the U.K., ran the story under Cameron's quote: "'You've found me out. I've ended my career on your show tonight!'"
It noted that Cameron had been "caught out by U.S. talk show king's quiz on British history."
And The Independent, a newspaper that aims to live up to its name in political terms when it comes to skewed reporting, ran the headline, "David Cameron fails David Letterman's history test on the Late Show," describing Letterman's British cultural and history quiz "as bizarre."
The BBC pointed to the fact that Cameron had planned to use his appearance on Letterman to "bang the drum" for British business and encourage Americans to visit the U.K.
He got his chance toward the end of his Letterman experience.
And Letterman noted, for the record, that Magna Carta means great charter.
The Magna Carta of 1215 was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects to limit his powers and protect their rights.
