Pointless gesture, political mistake - and bloody rude

Cameron really should get a grip. Of Hippy Hilton. By the balls.

It is simply not on for a Prime Minister to show up at a state occasion - any state occasion - dressed 'down' simply because it suits his personal political agenda to do so. This is not about you, Mr Cameron.

The marriage of a future king is as formal an occasion as one could imagine, short of the coronation or funeral of the monarch. There are rules about these things.

At a wedding, no matter who you are - or think you are, you take your cue from those organising the ceremonials and dress to compliment and show respect for the senior members of the wedding party, as well as the marrying couple. The senior person on this occasion is the Queen in her role as Queen. One dresses accordingly. Especially if one is a Conservative.

Is one a Conservative, Mr Cameron?

This stupid insolence reduces Cameron to the level of Gordon Brown with his dismally chippy insistence on wearing his office clothes when his host, the Lord Mayor, and all the other men present were in white tie, as specified on the invitation. It made Brown look... exactly what he is. A rude and obsessive arsehole.

One is also reminded of Michael Foot in his labourer's clothes at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Everything else Foot ever did, for good or ill, was diminished by his petty-minded public behaviour on a national occasion at which everyone else was formally attired. This sort of rudeness led the electorate to deem Foot unfit for high office and got Brown kicked out at the first opportunity. Now there's a thought, Dave.

David Cameron and Margaret Thatcher at the Cenotaph

So will David Cameron never again wear formal dress? Can he envisage no occasion at all which would warrant his digging out the stripeys or the soup and fish? It will be interesting to see whether any occasion will arise in the future which, in Dave's view, proves more important than a state occasion in the presence of the Sovereign. I am racking my brains to think what on earth that occasion might be. The wedding of one of his Oxfordshire county set? One of Samatha's grand cousins? An OE dinner, perhaps?

If Cameron were to treat his personal friends as casually as he treats his Sovereign and the watching nation, and show up at their sons' weddings dressed any old how, there would pretty soon be precious few stiffies on the Cameron mantelpiece. Is Dave prepared to be blackballed by just about everyone he knows? Is Mrs Cameron?

The entire Conservative vote is watching you, Cameron. Has it crossed your mind to wonder how this will be viewed? How many otherwise bankable votes you might be trashing by behaving like a political weasel and an utter social arse, in the tradition established by Foot and Brown?

Hello, Mrs Cameron? Is that you? Look, I think the old man's lost his grip. Have a word, dear girl, before he decides to dig his heels in on this. I mean, social and political suicide, over a bloody suit? Put your foot down. It's for his own good.