Patrick Mercer, a former shadow home affairs minister, was alleged to have branded the Prime Minister “an ----” during a conversation at a party given by a magazine and to have added: “I loathe him.”
Mr Mercer was also claimed in a tape recording, allegedly obtained by The People newspaper, to have said of Mr Cameron: “He’s a most despicable creature without any redeeming features. If I can think of one... he’s very rich.” Asked where the Prime Minister went wrong the MP was said to have replied: “He was born.”
Mr Mercer, MP for Newark, denied making the comments about Mr Cameron when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph last night - although he admitted being present at the party in question, where he had given a speech.
The pair have “history” - Mr Cameron sacked Mr Mercer in 2007 after the former army officer said that being called a “black bastard” was part and parcel of life in the armed forces. Mr Cameron, then the leader of the opposition, said the remarks at the time by the MP were “totally unacceptable”.
Mr Mercer is alleged, during the taped conversation, to have claimed Mr Cameron would be removed from 10 Downing Street in the spring and to have added: “I would take a beggar off the streets and put him in that position rather than have Cameron. Cameron is the worst politician in British history since William Gladstone.”
The 55-year-old MP, who supported David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, in the 2005 Conservative leadership contest won by Mr Cameron, was said by the newspaper to have criticised the Prime Minister’s “faux support” for Theresa May, the Home Secretary, who has been embroiled in an immigration row.
On the tape he is alleged to have said: “If the Prime Minister expresses his utmost confidence in you that means pack your bags. It always has done, especially with Cameron. What a creature.” » | Patrick Hennessy, and Ben Leach | Sunday, November 13, 2011
THE PEOPLE: ...And Patrick Mercer’s defence yesterday? ‘I’d had a drink but not so much I couldn’t drive’ » | Nigel Nelson | Sunday, November 13, 2011
