David Cameron and Boris Johnson took nine minutes to complete a puzzle for toddlers

It seems the combination of two top degrees from Oxford, with an Etonian education to boot, is not particularly helpful when it comes to completing puzzles designed for toddlers.

Fortunately for most people with such a privileged background, this realisation happens in private. For David Cameron and Boris Johnson, the epiphany occurred in front of television cameras.

The prime minister and the mayor of London were visiting a nursery in Surbiton, south-west of the capital, when they began trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with two three-year-olds and two four-year-olds.

The puzzle, which depicted the four seasons, took a lot longer to solve than one would have expected (nearly ten minutes) and it was difficult to tell whether two of the most powerful men in the country were a help or a hindrance to the toddlers Joshua, Stephanie, Hamish and Leo.

At one point, Mr Cameron said, "We've got all day", while Mr Johnson cried defiantly, "We can't be beaten by the puzzle."

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