Cameron could be descendant of Moses
By Liz Stephens
A Jewish scholar has suggested that Conservative leader, David Cameron, could be a direct descendant of Moses.
Yaakov Wise, a research fellow at the University of Manchester Centre for Jewish Studies, has traced the politician’s ancestry and said: “It is possible that Cameron is a direct descendant of Moses or, at least, a cousin.”
Mr Cameron’s paternal great-great-grandfather had the surname Levita, which means ‘a Jew descended from the tribe of Levi’, one of the original 12 tribes of Israel.
The leader of the Levites at the time of the exodus from Egypt was Moses.
However, Dr Wise acknowledges that Mr Cameron’s connection to Moses, who led his people out of slavery in Egypt, is tenuous, describing his thesis as “historical whimsy”.
But he added: “Many of today’s Levites, often carrying the surnames Levy, Levitan or Levita, could in fact be his descendants”.
This would mean that Lord Levy, the Labour peer who was at the centre of the ‘cash for honours’ scandal in 1997, could also be a descendent of Moses.
And perhaps more controversially, it suggests that Mr Cameron could be related to Lord Levy, a charge he is sure to be unhappy with.
Dr Wise said that Jewish records were notoriously difficult to follow because it was likely that they had been destroyed during the Jewish people’s flight from persecution.
Mr Cameron has described himself in the past as an “enthusiastic friend of Jewish people”.
Political commentators have long known that the Conservative Party leader’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Emile Levita, was a Jewish immigrant who became a successful businessman.
However, Levita married out of the faith and became an adopted English gentleman, owning a grouse moor in Wales and sending his four sons to Eton.
Mr Cameron is also a fifth cousin of the Queen, once removed.
