Conservative Party leader David Cameron was in Luton on Monday desperate to clinch Luton’s two crucial seats in the next general election.
At an unscripted, hour-long ‘Cameron Direct’ event at Vauxhall Recreation Club, Mr Cameron answered more than a dozen questions on a range of issues including immigration, Europe, autism, family breakdown and social cohesion.
Mr Cameron said: “It is for Luton to decide whether or not I become the next Prime Minister.
“The next Conservative Government will be the most pro-family government in history.
“When you think of politics, think of Martin Luther King or Winston Churchill… not dry rot.” He also added that ‘the closing of special schools should stop immediately’.
And Mr Cameron instructed the two local Conservative candidates, Nigel Huddleston (Luton South) and Jeremy Brier (Luton North), who also attended the event that they ‘need to get out to the schools in Luton, reach out to young people and engage them in politics’.
One 11-year-old boy asked a question about how to engage young people in politics, with Mr Cameron encouraging him to get involved in any way he can.
He told the audience that he believed in ‘integration not segregation’ in British society and that the ‘family was the best welfare state of all’, while also pledging to keep special schools open, to reform the benefits system and to be ‘the most profamily government in history’.
Mark Davie, a member of the public who was in the audience during the meeting, said: “I thought Mr Cameron was excellent and, although it might be a sin to say, it reminded me of Tony Blair in his prime – same style, better ideas.”
Mr Brier said after the event: “There was no script and David was up front about what he believed. He felt that the Luton seats were the ‘bellwether’ seats that would determine the next government. I have been overwhelmed with positive feedback.”
Mr Huddleston said: “David has prioritised winning back Luton because he knows that this town is central to who forms the next government. “