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…
183 Responses to “Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare”
David Powell
Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare: http://t.co/V0yaOaU – @ShamikDas reports
Rachael
Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare: http://t.co/V0yaOaU – @ShamikDas reports
Kiera James
Well done to Evan Davis for finally bringing up Cameron's Bullingdon past in relation to the riots http://t.co/1gGtqXa via @leftfootfwd
Peter Wiggins
Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare: http://t.co/V0yaOaU – @ShamikDas reports
JacAbsolute
RT @leftfootfwd Cameron’s Bullingdon hypocrisy laid bare: http://t.co/98BcQOP @ShamikDas via @catrionajm [Bogged down in moral high ground]