David Cameron

[justineo]

Did anyone else hear the recent interview when he was asked about using drugs at Uni?  He wouldn't say one way or other. do you think it matters or should we have a straight answer?

[Ding-Dong]

If Brown and Blair are able to hide behind the privacy argument concerning whether their kids have had the MMR jab, then I see no reason why Cameron should say whether he has or has not partaken.

[jimmer]

it was on Andy marr on Sunday morning. I cant see the relevence of what he did at college. I'd prefer to hear what his policys are. I used to like Andy Marr but he's trying to hard to be Paxman on that show.

 

jim

[vehelpfulguy]

George Bush (current US president) had a major drink problem when he was young. He was I believe done for drink driving when he was young. 

Has not stopped him becoming US president (whether he is any good is another matter).

[justineo]

I don't think he needed to answer but would have liked him to admit if he had, if only for his credibility.  Not promoting drug abuse, but it seems reasonable that he tried somethings at uni/college.  Shouldn't have a bearing on his ability to do his job now. 

[surfer mike]

No relevence whatsover, whatever the politician or whatever the party, but i note the double standards as regard to the likes of cameron and the reaction recently to kate moss where no understanding whatsoecer was accorded moss...not exactly the same i admit.. but the newness of cameron helps, once this guy is around for a bit, the usual bucketloads of cynicism and bile will be chucked over this guy as is chucked over blair and others..

Why these guys still want to go into public service beats me... they could have a far easier life if they went into the private sector and earned a damn site more money in the process.

[jake-the-peg]

Well it's not illeagal for your kids not to have the MMR jab (although maybe it should be) but it would have been illeagal for Cameron to have taken recreational drugs at university.

The media are just stirring the pot (pun intended). They know if he says he did he'll upset outraged of Tunbridge Wells but if he says he didn't he'll look like a stuffed shirt to another section of the electorate.

You could argue that it is important because it may illustrate a rather relaxed attitude to drugs that he could carry through into public office. But in reality how many of us have the same attitudes that we did 20 or 30 years ago when we were growing up?

I'd rather hear him tell us when he last broke the speed limit!

  

[andy hughes]

The point is not whether or not DC smoked in college - the point is his unwillingness to be honest, and to be seen to be honest. As a Conservative, he can't afford for a sleaze scandal to come back and bite him in the bottom, apart from which, it makes him look shifty and secretive.

To have any credibility as a Leader he should put up, or shut up, fudging is not an option.

[Loosehead]

Politicians usually fall into this trap. I remember a few years ago Paddy Ashdown was acused of sleeping with his secretary, he admitted it straight away and took the wind right out of the sails of the media. Contrast that with the whole sorry Jonathan Atkin saga and you can see that for a minor faux pas it's better to come clean early on. By not clearing this up DC has now got to look foreward to being taunted with this every time he is interviewed or questioned, effectively overshadowing the stuff he really wants to talk about. Better to have said early on "yeah I smoked some dope as a student, it's very common, so what, let's move on" then suddenly Marr looks an idiot and does indeed move on.

[jno]

with respect andy I think fudging is a perfectly good option. He hasn't been dishonest after all, and it's no more relevant to his ability to do the job than, say, Clinton's sex life was. I don't think people who ask irrelevant questions have any 'right' to get an answer. Let the electorate decide; my guess is that, as with Clinton and Bush, they won't care what he got up to in his own time.

[january_bug]

Don't see why he should answer.  I thought the ITV interviewer who also raised this question right at the end of her interview with him was deliberately trying tp sabotage his leadership bid by ending on that note.  He handled it well, and kept what's private to himself. 

You don't see the media asking politicians if they lost their virginity before the legal age at the time, or if they ever drank below the legal age, so why ask about weed?  It's just SOOOO tedious. 

[Ding-Dong]

Plus should we really be surpised about Andrew Marr? He is a well known Labour lackey.