Kay Burley criticised for claiming David Cameron is a ‘safe pair of hands’ - despite calling Brexit vote

Veteran broadcaster Kay Burley has raised eyebrows online after she branded David Cameron a “safe pair of hands”, despite the former prime minister and foreign secretary being the one who announced the divisive 2016 Brexit referendum and then resigned when the result wasn’t the one he wanted.

The Sky News journalist made the comments on Twitter/X on Friday morning, in a tweet promoting her interview with Lord Cameron amid a Tory leadership contest and continued violence and devastation in the Middle East.

She wrote: “Striding determinedly towards me, hand outstretched to offer a firm, eye-contact handshake, Lord Cameron cuts a powerful image as he arrives for our interview.

“I first met him as a friendly, fresh-faced MP when he was put forward by the government in the 2005 election campaign to hold the party line on myriad topics. He was calm, friendly and self-assured. When he left, I turned to the cameraman and said I bet you £20 he’s a future PM.

“A warm smile spread across Lord Cameron’s face as I shared the recollection with him.

“That faded into watery-eyed steel as we discussed the desperate loss of his son Ivan who died when he was just six years old. We touched on many other emotions too - considered politician when discussing Israel; polite stonewalling for who he wants to win the Tory leadership election; a useful lack of recall on whether he really did tell Boris Johnson ‘I will f*** you up, forever’ over his stance on Brexit and a cheeky to-and-fro about SwiftGate.

“He may no longer be in frontline politics but Lord Cameron is unquestionably a safe pair of hands in the unpredictable world of politics.”

The observation from Burley has been met with disbelief from many online, who have branded the post “embarrassing” and “sycophantic”:

Countless stories have emerged since 2016 which sum up what the public think of Lord Cameron and his role in bringing about Brexit, such as ex-EastEnders actor Danny Dyer going viral in 2018 for branding him a “t***” and saying he “should be held accountable for it”.

Indeed, in the run-up to the publication of his 2019 memoir For The Record, Lord Cameron said in an interview with The Times that he was “truly sorry” to see “the country I love so much suffer uncertainty and division in the years since then”.

“I deeply regret the outcome and accept that my approach failed. The decisions I took contributed to that failure. I failed,” he added.

But perhaps the finest example of just how chaotic things became after Lord Cameron resigned in 2016 is his infamous tweet before the 2015 election warning of “chaos with Ed Miliband” which was then used whenever disaster struck under the administration of subsequent Conservative prime ministers – such as Theresa May’s struggles getting her Brexit deal over the line and Liz Truss’ calamitous mini-budget.

He sure sounds like a “safe pair of hands” to us…

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