|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Smoking is not an issue. But why do I get the feeling he is
Kevin Maguire The Mirror
Monday 12 Feb 2007 SMOKING IT IS NOT AN ISSUE..BUT WHY DO I GET THE FEELING HE IS NOT BEING ENTIRELY HONEST? DAVID Cameron's lofty refusal to discuss what he took and when he took it is contemptible. There is no great principle at stake here - the right of a chap to protect bedroom secrets. And politicians are, of course, entitled to a private life. But this is a public issue. The Tory leader is also quick to waive his own privacy when he thinks it wins votes. So we know about his happy upbringing in a big Oxfordshire house, how his stockbroker dad lost a leg and how he met wife Samantha. Playing happy families with the kids, inviting TV cameras into the kitchen, is fine by him. That's the private life he wants to show, the slippery politician who made a living as a spin doctor before becoming an MP happy to cash in. Then, when the questions become dangerous, down slam the shutters and he plays a spurious privacy card. I'll say this for Cameron: he's got one hell of a brass neck. The point isn't what he puffed aged 15 at a posh school, even if it was illegal. Nor what he may still have been inhaling when a Hooray Henry at Oxford University. The real point is he is refusing to answer legitimate questions because he fears more questions. Admit to cannabis at Eton and he will be asked about Oxford. Confess to rolling spliffs at university and he will be asked if he tried anything else. Cameron declared in the past he has never used drugs since entering politics. But is that since he became an MP in 2001 or does it also cover the years from 1988 advising John Major, Norman Lamont and Michael Howard? Questions, questions, and more questions explain his clenched teeth refusals to tell it as it was. Labour's next leader Gordon Brown stated he has never tried drugs. The only drugs taken by Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell were prescribed by a GP. Cameron has made great play of his character, how he is supposedly open and straightforward. Yet the Tory who seeks to be PM is failing to be honest with the electorate. Taking drugs is rightly no longer a bar on succeeding in politics, with youthful indiscretions overlooked or forgiven by voters. But Cameron is being less than truthful and behaving as if he has something to hide. And until he comes clean, he does not deserve our trust, let alone our votes. http://www.mirror.co.uk/
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!