THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron's imitation of Julia Gillard's broad nasal inflection has been panned in Australia as a diplomatic insult and "perhaps one of the worst Aussie accents in history".
Ms Gillard, who was born in Wales, has frequently made self-deprecating remarks about her own accent – which is deeply nasal and consonant-swallowing, even by Australian standards.
But Mr Cameron's imitation, during a speech at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet, was roundly denounced, drawing unfavourable comparisons with James Coburn's accent in The Great Escape and Meryl Streep's in Evil Angels.
Mr Cameron attempted his impersonation – albeit with a disclaimer – while recounting a conversation he had with the Australian Prime Minister during the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth about the move to scrap laws that bar firstborn daughters from inheriting the British throne.
"I turned to the Australian prime minister and said, 'thank you very much Julia for allowing us to have this meeting in Australia,'" Mr Cameron said. "And she said, I can't quite do the accent but I'll try – 'Not a bit David, this is good news for sheilas everywhere'." Read on and comment » | Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney | Tuesday, November 15, 2011
