Johnny Marr has offered to reform the Smiths, on just one tiny condition: David Cameron's coalition government steps down. "How's that?" he quipped at the NME awards. "I think the country'd be better off, don't you?"

Marr was appearing at the awards to salute the "godlike genius" of Noel Gallagher, and to receive a prize for the Smiths' Complete box set. Asked the obligatory question about a Smiths reunion, he offered up this new, patriotic suggestion. "Maybe if the government stepped down ..." he said. "If this government steps down then I'll reform the band. How's that? That's a fair trade, innit?"

To some, it would seem like much more than a fair trade: two miracles for the price of one. But the question is whether one particular Smiths fan – the prime minister – takes notice. As part of a 2006 appearance on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, David Cameron hailed the Smiths' song This Charming Man. Five years later, Marr demanded that Cameron drop out of the figurative fan club. "Stop saying that you like the Smiths, no you don't," he wrote. "I forbid you to like [them]." On this point even Morrissey agreed.

With Marr's new offer, Cameron has an extraordinary opportunity to reunite one of his teenage favourites. Marr even said that he and Morrissey are in touch. "I don't not-speak to Morrissey, because that implies a certain kind of stand-off," he said. "He's doing his thing and I'm doing mine."