Last time Arnie was in town (last October) Downing St made a few groan-worthy jokes about how he would help “terminate” the deficit. He promised: “I’ll be back.”
True to his word, the former governor of California returned today, attending a gathering of the Tory backbench 1922 committee. The appearance conjures up the surreal vision of grand Conservative backbenchers mingling with the star of Terminator, Conan the Barbarian and, er, Jingle all the Way. Nick Watt at the Guardian has tweeted that David Cameron unveiled the muscular movie star as his “secret weapon” just before the meeting this afternoon in a Commons committee room. Arnie told Watt: “It was very good to pump them up, to tell them they’re doing a great job on Libya.”
Then again, some backbench wags may joke that it’s getting serious for the prime minister – on Libya, health reform, the cuts and so on – when he needs protection of the physical kind.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey