UK riots: Should I cut short my holiday?

„Did you have to come back from your holiday early to sort out a crisis? No, me neither. It must do wonders for your ego. You get to do the resolute jaw thing, and the old hand on the arm. »I’m sorry, my darling, but this is the burden of high office. When the children wake up, tell them I’ll be back when I can« – cue meaningful stare into the middle distance – »as soon as I’ve sorted this wretched business out«.

You have to time it properly, of course. I wonder if, as he listened to the news from his villa in Tuscany, David Cameron thought of Macmillan, the Old Etonian who remained nonchalantly on the grouse moors even when the Berlin Wall went up. After all, Dave didn’t exactly rush back, did he? Perhaps, having sent his Home Secretary on ahead, he calculated that it would look panicky and undignified. Far better to show a little Old Etonian sangfroid, then return. If anything, this did indeed make him look more statesmanlike. There is something about stepping off a plane and heading straight to the office that makes you seem like you have momentum, the equivalent of rolling up your sleeves. When Cameron strode across Downing Street to the waiting lectern, he looked purposeful, in control, prime ministerial.

His fellow Old Etonian, Boris Johnson, seemed to be trying to emulate Macmillan as well, but mistimed his return and tipped all the way over into Anthony Eden, the Old Etonian who failed to return from his holiday in the Caribbean in time to save his premiership from a post-Suez coup. Not only did Boris look a little jet-lagged after his long-haul flight from Canada, he opted for the wrong photo-op, which left him being heckled on the streets of Clapham while holding a brush that resembled his hair.”