David Cameron was grilled over his antics while a member of the posh boy Bullingdon Club today, an issue which exposes him and Boris Johnson as hypocrites.
David Cameron was grilled over his antics while a member of the Bullingdon Club today, an issue he’s loath to talk about, one which exposes him and Boris Johnson as hypocrites. The prime minister and Mayor of London have been amongst the most outraged by the criminality of those involved in last month’s riots – yet seem to wish to brush under the carpet their own anti-social behaviour while members of the posh boy club.
Interviewed on the Today programme this morning, he repeatedly said “we all do stupid things when we’re young”, feigning amnesia about the nasty club’s thuggery:
Evan Davis: “The Bullingdon Club, that’s a youthful gang, you can almost call it, engages in violent behaviour, do you see any likeness in that to what occured?”
David Cameron: “I think we all do stupid things when we’re young, and we should learn the lessons…”
ED: “Did you witness stuff as a member of that club that was, did you witness people throwing things through windows smashing up restaurants, you didn’t witness any of that?”
DC: “We all do stupid things when we’re young, I think that’s clear but I think we saw in terms of the riots was actually very well organised in many cases, looting and stealing and thieving, and we have to react very, very clearly to that, and I think you can see that happening in the Courts…
“I thought the Mayor of London made a good point which is, I think the way he put it is that people weren’t stealing from a shop because Gerald Kaufman had got a flat screen television on his expenses, and I think when you listen to the BBC there’s a danger that all these things are equated into a great mush and you make that as an excuse for not acting, some people almost say, well until we deal with the problem of inequality in our society there’s nothing you can do to deal with rioting, well that’s what it can slip into.”
ED: “That’s not where I was going, it’s more that people do just get caught up in things and I’m sure you will say that you got caught up in things, and in a sense one doesn’t want to have a moral panic about that section of society necessarily?”
As the FT reported last year, Cameron knows a lot more than his squirming interview lets on, and came close to being arrested himself after a night of Bullingdon violence which resulted in a restaurant being smashed up. But I suppose, as with the “second chance” granted to Andy Coulson, unlike the rioters, there were extenuating circumstances for these impoverished, poor little rich boys who had everything to go on the rampage…
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183 Responses to “Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare”
Henry
I love the way the right wingers find all sorts of excuses for the Bullingdon smashing things up. Clearly, it’s quite ok for the feral rich to do this. Jolly japes and all that.
Dave Citizen
We know that there have always been a proportion of young men (and it seems some women too) who are liable to smash things up when some combination or other of boredom, testosterone, adrenalin, alcohol and a good dose of bravado come into close contact. Throw in a sense of injustice or of being ignored and you really have the ingredients for trouble!
But listen to how Cameron tries to down play the relevance of extreme inequality – of course the riots weren’t ’caused’ by inequality but it seems pretty likely to me that extreme inequality and the sense of diconnection and unfairness that goes with it made them worse.
“We all do stupid things when we’re young” but if you have good prospects and the sky’s the limit then it’s a lot easier to put them behind you and move on!
Leon Wolfson
Ed – Yes, thanks, you’d rather have the rich than the poor under ANY situation. We know, you’re a Tory. You don’t need to be recursive.
Sumanta Barua
RT @SallyBercow: Loving this – David Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare. http://t.co/izSX5eb excellent interview by @EvanHD
Ed's Talking Balls
Prety simple proposition: I’d rather have my restaurant destroyed by jumped-up toffs (who at least pay for the damage and don’t physically harm me) than have my property stolen (and never replaced) and be assaulted by feral youths.
I’d rather not fall victim to criminals at all, granted, but if I were to be so unfortunate it’s a no-brainer, surely.