Time 100: The leaders deemed more influential than David Cameron
Mr Cameron failed to make the list once again
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Your support makes all the difference.Time has released its annual list of the people it deems to be the most influential in the world - and David Cameron is once again notably absent.
The British Prime Minister may be displeased to hear he was pipped to the post by a number of politicians and world leaders, including the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.
Time has split its list of most influential people into five categories: pioneers, titans, artists, leaders, and icons.
Those who made the ‘leaders’ category included IMF chief Christine Lagarde, nominated by Janet Yellen, and the US Secretary of State John Kerry, nominated by Bono. Donald Trump will likely be annoyed to find Ted Cruz, his rival for the Republican nomination, appears on the list with him (Mr Trump will no doubt respond with a tweet declaring himself the one and only influencer in due course).
Other leaders in the category include Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, and President Obama, who nominated Aung San Suu Kyi.
Blaine Harden, the author who nominated Kim, declared the totalitarian leader the “exploiter of fears” in his rationale. Kim’s regime has been heavily criticised for a catalogue of disturbing human rights abuses and North Korean defectors have given harrowing accounts of life in the hermit kingdom.
It’s been a tumultuous year for Mr Cameron, who had not long recovered from the embarrassment of the ‘piggate’ allegations when he was forced to admit he profited from his father’s Panama offshore trust, prompting calls for him to resign.
Mr Cameron might want to take a few pointers from Time 100 influential leader Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister who was only recently elected, if he wants to make the 2017 list. In just a few months Mr Trudeau has won legions of fans with his progressive attitude towards immigration, the refugee crisis, cannabis and feminism, even promising not to stop calling himself a feminist until this declaration “is met with a shrug”.
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