David Cameron has met with a group of immovable, grey, ageing relics… and it’s not members of the Tory far right.
The prime minister was in Wiltshire on Monday to unveil a £2 billion project to turn the A303 from a nasty little back road to a modern expressway, replete with a £1.2 billion tunnel around Stonehenge to provide uninterrupted views of the Wiltshire Downs.
The PM said visiting the ancient site reminded him of trips as a child, particularly being stuck in traffic around the historic monument (a structure so old it might actually pre-date Tory immigration policy).
Cameron and Obama have now both visited the Wiltshire site in 2014
Speaking to the Western Daily Press, he said: “This is the green light, it really is going to happen. The money is there. We’ve managed the nation’s budgets carefully so we can afford to do this.
“I think it’s not just what’s happening at Stonehenge but the whole of the expressway down to the south west I think is going to be really important for that region, its jobs, economy and prosperity to make sure that every region of the country benefits from the long-term economic plan.”
Cameron is the second world statesman to visit the English Heritage site in 2014 after Barack Obama toured the prehistoric monument on the way back from the Nato summit in Wales in September.
That visit resulted in what is was was the greatest piece of live-tweeting in West Country history when a mum of three (who runs 10K races dressed as a bumble bee), hiked up to the site hoping to get a glance of the President... only for Obama to wave, walk over, shake hands and have a picture taken.