Eggcorn Alert

Iain Dale, yesterday at 10:54am:

If ever you wanted an example of the difference between Gordon Brown and David Cameron as Prime Minister, look at what's happening in Washington.

Brown and his Ministers cow-towed to the Americans over the one-sided extradition treaty and refused even to raise the subject of Gary McKinnon with their American counterparts.

I suspect that Iain was typing that blogpost before he had read this story:

David Cameron has been criticised after mistakenly saying the UK was the "junior partner" in the allied World War II fight against Germany in 1940.

He made the historical slip, neglecting the fact that the US had yet to enter the war, on the second day of his first trip to the US as prime minister.

We all want and expect a prime minister to have at least a reasonable understanding of modern history, but let's put to one side Cameron's historical illiteracy and ask the question 'why did Cameron feel the need to refer to the UK as the "junior partner" in World War II?'

The only answer I can come up with is that Cameron was kowtowing to the Americans.

Why Iain Dale feels that Gordon Brown and his ministers were towed by cows to talks on Gary McKinnon's extradition treaty remains unclear. Possibly an Eggcorn.