Cameron labels Brown 'petty' over Eton jibe
David Cameron labels Brown 'petty' over Eton comments
Sunday, 06, Dec 2009 10:45
By Lewis Bazley.
The Conservative leader has said prime minister Gordon Brown was "petty" and "spiteful" to refer to the Eton schooling of senior Tories.
Mr Brown had said in the House of Commons last week that Conservative policy on inheritance tax had been "dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton", with Mr Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and prospective MP Zac Goldsmith all having been educated at the Berkshire private school.
Labour say Conservative plans for cuts in inheritance tax cuts would be beneficial to millionaires while having a costly impact on public services.
In response, Mr Cameron said a "class war" strategy from Mr Brown and First Secretary Lord Mandelson would be a "petty, spiteful, stupid" approach in the lead-up to the next election.
He told BBC1's The Politics Show: "I never hide my background or where I'm from or anything about my life like that.
"My view is very simple... that what people are interested in is not where you come from but where you're going to, what you've got to offer, what you've got to offer the country."
He stressed that several members of his shadow cabinet, including shadow defence secretary Liam Fox, shadow foreign secretary William Hague and party chairman Eric Pickles, had attended state schools and pledged to rectify a matter on the Conservative website that only reveals the schooling of personnel if they were educated in the state sector.
"Frankly I think the country is more interested in who are these people, are they any good, have they got the right ideas, will they take the country forward, have they got the energy and vigour and dynamism that we so badly need?" he added.
"And the answer to those questions I believe is yes. But the best way to test it, you know what? Have an election."