Cameron in German gaffe
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
Conservative leader David Cameron was guilty of a serious blunder last night when he appeared to do an impression of a Nazi officer when discussing his opposition to ID cards.
While attending a question and answer session in Norwich he asked the crowd "where are your papers?" in an exaggerated German accent.
He was questioned by a woman in the crowd who said: "I wonder about the wisdom of you adopting a German accent," to which he replied that he had intended the comment to be light-hearted.
Mr Cameron was addressing the crowd at the Hewett School to launch his pledge to scrap the controversial ID cards scheme if he is elected to office.
The scheme has come under fire as being both an infringement of civil liberties and a waste of money - at an estimated £5 billion - especially in a time of recession.
At the weekend new home secretary Alan Johnson was forced to reiterate the government's commitment to the venture amid rumours he was in favour of scrapping it.
Despite rumoured private reservations about the cards Mr Johnson said he would push ahead with their introduction as it was a manifesto pledge which he intended to keep.
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