After Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg’s appearances earlier this week, it was David Cameron’s turn on The World At One this lunchtime. Asked about the decision of Conservative MP Priti Patel’s father to stand as a UKIP candidate, Cameron replied: “it’s a free country…often in families you get split loyalties”, before intriguingly adding: “I’m trying to think of my own family. I don’t want to reveal which members of my family …”. He quickly trailed off but the clear suggestion was that one or several members of the Cameron clan don’t vote Conservative. “On the whole, they’re all pretty supportive,” he added, sounding less than convincing. Cameron couldn’t bring himself to mention the word ‘UKIP’ (a fact that Martha Kearney rightly drew attention to) but could there be a supporter of Nigel Farage’s party in the ranks?
I’m reminded of the incident before the 2010 general election when Ed Vaizey, a friend of Cameron’s from Oxford University, suggested that Samantha Cameron “might have voted for Blair” and “would be going into this poll thinking ‘Is Cameron the real deal or should I stick with Brown?'” A furious CCHQ went on to force the-then shadow culture minister to issue this retraction: “I am very embarrassed by this. I had no justification for what I said. The only thing I do know from seeing David and Sam for many years is that Sam worked night and day on David’s campaign in 1997 in Stafford and, as she said, has never voted Labour.”
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