I know, how has he even got into his position without knowing those irrelevant pieces of trivia?

He got into his position through being born into a very rich family who could send him to incredibly expensive private schools and used connections made through their wealth to get him internships and jobs.

But is a basic grasp of Latin and knowing who wrote a song 260 years ago essential in a prime minister or is it irrelevant?

Considering that he is head of a government that continues to support a UK citizenship test for immigrants that consists of similar questions then surely it is relevant.

Probably not, but then that wasn't what happened or what has been said on this thread. I said its a bit worrying that a £370,000 "elite" education doesn't teach such basics that I was taught at state school.
It's also nothing to do with a basic grasp of Latin, it's to do with not knowing a basic fact regarding an incredibly important foundation of our democracy. Considering he is the head of our democracy that is a tad worrying. Also, as pointed out they are questions from a citizenship test his government require those nasty foreigners have to pass before they can be considered "one of us".

One has to question quite why Cameron was on the show in the first place.

Because Boris was on not that long ago...

Well quite. But at least Boris can be self deprecating and funny at times. Cameron just comes across as a pompous wealthy Brit.

Quote: Him "Well quite. But at least Boris can be self deprecating and funny at times. Cameron just comes across as a pompous wealthy Brit.'" According to you maybe. The Americans I saw interviewed afterwards said they thought he came across well. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19739486 "Intelligent", "Well spoken", "Sharp", "Bright", "Fabulous"

Quote: Him "Well quite. But at least Boris can be self deprecating and funny at times. Cameron just comes across as a pompous wealthy Brit.'" According to you maybe. The Americans I saw interviewed afterwards said they thought he came across well. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19739486 "Intelligent", "Well spoken", "Sharp", "Bright", "Fabulous"

I bet if he had of known all his latin he would have been derided for being a snob who went to a posh school and is out of touch with the general population because he knows latin.

You don't need to be able to transcribe a page of Latin verse to know what Magna Carta means, you just need a smattering of Secondary School History and to have read through some of the questions and tutorials for the application to be a British citizen, its a good job that he already has a British passport because he might not get one if he had to sit an exam.

As Dennis Skinner famously said about Gideon Osborne: "educated beyond his intelligence"

Dave gave a pretty reasonable description of what Magna Carta was and what its effects were.
To be able to do that and not know what the two words Magna and Carta meant doesn't ring true to me.
I reckon he was pretending not know any Latin for fear of being tested on more Latin.

Nobody dislikes that man more than me (well maybe Cod'ead does, OK maybe a lot of people do ... but I still dislike him OK?) but I don't have a problem with his knowledge of Magna Carta or Rule Britannia.

Right. because it's not like English is littered with Latin phrases ...

You don't have to "know all your Latin" to work out that Magna means great and Carta is likely to be "charter" - or possibly map, but that's unlikely when you're talking about a charter that set out the righst of barons and other nobs.

And, frankly, why is pretending stupidity, because that's what you think plebs are like, better than actual ignorance?

Maybe he just forgot. People generally don't remember every single thing they learnt at school.