David Cameron seems to have let his foot slip into his mouth over his comment regarding a conversation he is supposed to have had with his sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.

He was apparently overheard saying to Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, that when he, Cameron, called the Queen to break the good news that the United Kingdom was still united after the Scottish referendum, the old lady “purred down the line.”

Many a commentator jumped at the British prime minister immediately, rapping his knuckles for being disrespectful of the Queen and suggesting that he should learn a little more protocol and decorum.

A connoisseur of matters royal called it a “gaffe and a half.” Another said Cameron had made himself look like a “purrfect fool.” There was even a suggestion that by saying what he said, Cameron was somehow “boasting.”

And I was wondering what all this brouhaha was in aid of. After all, all Cameron was doing by calling his Head of State was to inform her that her beloved Scotland was still in the loop, that she wouldn’t have to be the monarch who presided over the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

It makes sense for the young prime minister to be excited. During the run-up to the Scottish referendum he had really worked his trouser seats off.

He had spared no effort to plead with the Scotsmen and Scotswomen not to “tear apart” the Union as this would leave him heart-broken.

The American satirical new site, The Onion, poked fun at him, suggested that Cameron would kill himself if the Independence campaign won. Being broken-hearted leads to suicide only for young and fragile jilted females; it’s not the way of tough politicians.

But, let’s accept it: Cameron had worked hard as the galvaniser of efforts by Westminster politicians who travelled north to ensure a ‘No’ vote in what had been a spectacularly nonpartisan enterprise.

They had won, and their Queen had won with them.

So what was wrong with a little gloating, a little chest-thumping, especially when you are talking to a Yank who might be bored by all that rambling from the old country?

You imagine that with a man whose mind might be crowded with houghts of another billion dollars coming his way you need to add some spice to buy a little attention.

I thought the Brits would cut him a little slack, first on account of the excitement that greeted the unionist triumph, and second, on account of his youth and his lack of schooling in courtly etiquette.

Trying to impress

And after all, he was not talking to the old lady herself – it was not like he had said to the grandma, “Hey, Liz, you sound like you’re purring”; rather he was on the other side of the Atlantic, trying to impress his wealthy host.

But he has been castigated sufficiently for him to want to apologise to Queen Elizabeth in person. Such is the power of an ole lady who did not appoint the prime minister to his current post and cannot even sack him. It’s called tradition.

You do not treat your sovereign, even when you are half a world away from her as if she were your equal.

“Purr?” A pussycat purrs. There is something “sexist” about the word.

Someone suggested in a blog that Eartha Kitt purred, and I would venture to add Marilyn Monroe onto the list of purring pets. You could add Elizabeth Taylor, maybe, and Whitney Houston. But Auntie Betty? No way she could purr.

Cameron is lucky. In another era, under another Elizabeth, his head could have been the price of suggesting that about her. Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne a young, vivacious and playful lass, and a few young men around London fancied themselves to be close to her, and maybe to hold her amorous affections. They came to great grief.

For Cameron, it won’t amount to much. It will be noted that that was a slip, nothing more, and one that came at a time of great excitement. But you can be sure that he will watch out every time his foot comes close to his mouth, looking to avoid another footsand-witch.

Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: [email protected]