Cameron faces cannabis allegations
David Cameron is under pressure to confirm or deny the reports
Also In The News
|
Russian president Vladimir Putin has accused the US of fostering insecurity among members of the international community. |  |
Sunday, 11, Feb 2007 07:56
David Cameron smoked cannabis while at high school, a new biography has claimed.
Today's revelations about the Conservative leader's alleged misbehaviour as a schoolchild come in a biography by journalists Francis Elliott and James Hanning published in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
The book cites contemporaries of Mr Cameron claiming that the 15-year-old Conservative leader-to-be was disciplined for smoking cannabis after confessing his misdeed to teachers.
Conservative party officials are maintaining the line which Mr Cameron has always maintained about his life prior to his entry into politics, pointing out that "this happened almost 25 years ago".
Making a brief statement outside his family home, Mr Cameron said: "Like many people I did things when I was young that I shouldn't have done and that I regret. But I do believe that politicians are entitled to a past that is private and that remains private and so I won't be making any commentary on what's in the newspapers today.
"That's really all I have to say on what for me is an important family day," he added.
Political analysts have said that traditionalists within the Conservative party, already uneasy with their new leader's liberal-leaning agenda, will frown upon the 40-year-old.
Party grandee Lord Tebbit told BBC News yesterday that although disapproval was to be expected, he believed transgressions made while still a teenager should not prevent politicians from achieving high office.
"I think we have to take a reasoned view about these things, and the question now is whether or not he understands it is a highly dangerous drug and should be treated as such," Lord Tebbit said.