Breaking the law? Cameron mocked for allegations of drug-taking past
David Cameron was accused of lying to the Commons today, after a lighthearted response to a question on fox-hunting saw him tell MPs he had never broken the law.
The comment came after Labour's John Spellar used a question at PMQs to press the prime minister on his desire to repeal the fox-hunting ban.
"I have never broken the law and the only little red pests I pursue these days are in this House," Cameron replied.
The comment raised eyebrows online, due to widespread but unconfirmed reports of the prime minister's drug taking while at school and university.
"Cameron has broken the law on several occasions. Just lied to parliament," shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant tweeted.
Cameron has never admitted to breaking the law for any reason, but he has managed to successfully dodge questions about his past before and during his leadership of the Tory party.
Asked by Observer journalist Andrew Rawnsley whether he had taken drugs in his youth, the prime minister responded: "I had a normal university experience."
Pressed further, he replied: "There were things I did as a student that I don't think I should talk about now that I am a politician."
Cameron later admitted he had "a few brushes with authority" in school.
The prime minister is reported to have been 'gated' – an Eton punishment in which the pupil loses privileges for misconduct – after an investigation into whether schoolboys were buying drugs in a nearby town in 1982, when he was 15 years old.
