Shrinking power: One Direction and supermarket boss humiliate Cameron in influence stakes
A shopping boss and five-piece global pop phenomenon have handed David Cameron's status twin setbacks this morning.
Cameron slipped out of a list of the world's most top ten powerful people, signalling another step backwards for the prime minister's clout on the global stage.
He found himself pushed back to 11 in Forbes' fifth annual ranking of the world's most powerful people, behind Wal-Mart chief executive Michael Duke.
It follows a dramatic year in global affairs in which Russian president Vladimir Putin replaced US president Barack Obama as the world's most powerful man.
Putin's success in arbitrating the deal which has today led to the confirmed destruction of Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons stands in stark contrast to the performance of both Obama and Cameron, who struggled to secure domestic approval for a military strike against Syria.
China's Communist party general secretary Xi Jinping was at number three, with Pope Francis a new entry at number four and German chancellor Angela Merkel at five.
Cameron was also placed behind Bill Gates, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi.
The prime minister suffered a further setback today when an assessment of his status on Twitter saw him placed behind all five members of the pop ground One Direction.
Cameron's @David_Cameron account scored 97 out of 100 for its influence and reach by Peerindex, but placed him seventh behind the band's five members and singer Ed Sheeran in the list of UK Twitter users.
The list offered a poor showing for politicians in general, with Ed Miliband only managing to come in 29th on the list and chancellor George Osborne 33rd. Labour backbencher Tom Watson was 32nd while Boris Johnson was 41st.
