Hasmonean Hosts Cameron Roadshow
David Cameron addressing the audience at Hasmonean Boys' High School
Conservative Party leader David Cameron tackled a range of issues including the pro-Israel lobby, the Goldstone report and his allies in Europe at an event at Hasmonean Boys' High School on Monday.
Cameron visited the north-west London Jewish school as part of his Cameron Direct sessions and answered questions from local residents on state pensions, Afghanistan, and Turkey joining the European Union, among others.
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"I didn't watch the programme but having read about it I advise you not to watch it either," he said. "The idea that somehow Conservative politics is decided by particular donations from a particular side is rubbish."
Cameron said he was a "good friend of Israel", but also a "candid" one. He added: "I haven't always said things that have pleased people in the pro-Israel lobby or the Jewish community. I say what I think is right."
He also reiterated his position on the Goldstone report saying he would have voted against the report, although if crimes were committed in Gaza they should be investigated. Cameron said: "The Goldstone report was not well judged or well put together. I thought it was cowardly of Britain to abstain. With that kind of report you're for or against it."
In response to a question on the Conservative Party's ties in the European Union, Cameron said that the Polish and Czech parties he is allied with were not "extreme" or "unsavoury". He blamed Foreign Secretary David Miliband for an "enormous disinformation campaign" to paint the Polish Law and Justice Party and its leader Michal Kaminski as anti-Semitic. Cameron said: "I would not link the Conservatives to any party that is anti-Semitic or extreme in any way."
The Tory leader told the audience of around 100 people that he wanted to speak to Finchley and Golders Green residents was because it is a marginal constituency.
He said: "I make no secret that this is a marginal constituency and you are some of the people who will determine the outcome of the next election. You have a right to have a good look at the people who think they ought to be prime minister after that election and work out whether you agree."
Councillor Mike Freer, leader of Barnet Council and the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green, introduced Cameron. He said that Finchley and Golders Green required just a 0.2 percent swing from Labour to change to Tory power.
Rabbi David Meyer, executive headteacher of Hasmonean High School said it was an "honour" that Cameron decided to make his presentation at the school.
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