3 Dec, 2014 15:00

‘Maso-sadism’: Has Cameron invented a new sex act?

David Cameron caused hilarious uproar among MPs during prime minister’s questions ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement by referring to a lesser-known, or potentially non-existent, sex act.

The prime minister attempted to call out Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’ proposal to tackle the deficit, but ended up making a bit of a, well, balls-up.

“[Ed Balls] said that he would be tough on the deficit and tough on the causes of the deficit. As he is one of the causes of the deficit, I think we’ve just found the first ever example of political maso-sadism,” Cameron said.

WATCH → David Cameron on, errr, 'maso-sadism' http://t.co/9ckG3L59SH #PMQs https://t.co/PlIK4MDpFM
— Political Scrapbook (@PSbook) December 3, 2014

The claim was met with jeers of “It’s sado-masochism!” from the presumably highly knowledgeable members around the Commons, as Speaker John Bercow attempted to restore calm to the chamber.

“Order, order,” he cried. “We all know what the prime minister meant.”

For a man who has hardly cut deficit throughout his period as Chancellor how he thinks it will disappear now seems like #masosadism fantasy
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 3, 2014

But do we? While Twitter exploded with journalists and pundits ready to heckle the seemingly clueless PM, other spectators began to hunt around for the elusive “maso-sadism.”

Bercow: "colleagues please must give the Chancellor his head"? Is this part of that #masosadism they were talking about earlier?
— Tom Chivers (@TomChivers) December 3, 2014

According to that well known unofficial source, the Urban Dictionary, the act does exist, contrary to the belief of most of the Commons.

So apparently masosadism does exist... http://t.co/URvVWCP47G #pmqs
— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) December 3, 2014

Cameron can thus sleep peacefully, knowing that he had not made a gaffe, but in fact referred to a little known act in which one derives pleasure from inflicting pain upon oneself, with just a hint of inflicting pain on others.

Cameron's masosadism is presumably the act of taking a beating at pmqs from your own backbenchers
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) December 3, 2014

So, following Cameron’s crippling embarrassment and the unease of TV viewers, satirists and logophiles (word-lovers) will be no doubt thanking the PM for a wonderful example of “political maso-sadism.”