Cameron 'smoked cannabis' claim DRUGS: NEW ALLEGATIONS DRUGS: NEW

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Feb 11, 2007 | by Rachelle Money

DAVID CAMERON is facing fresh allegations of drugtaking after reports emerged he smoked cannabis when studying at Eton.

A Sunday newspaper has reported today that school authorities called in police after suspicions that pupils had smoked the drug.

Cameron, then 15, was confined to school grounds for two weeks after admitting to smoking cannabis, but was not suspended, the report said.

The revelation about Cameron's previous cannabis use are made in a biography, Cameron: The Rise Of The New Conservative, which will be serialised in The Main On Sunday newspaper.

According to authors Francis Elliott and James Hanning, seven boys were expelled from Eton in 1982 after staff discovered pupils were smoking and dealing in cannabis.

Headmaster Eric Anderson asked to see Cameron after another pupil named him, and he was made to confess to smoking the drug. As he had only smoked cannabis, and not traded in it, he was not expelled.

According to the biography, he was fined and "gated". The book also claims Cameron indulged in "infrequent and moderate consumption of cannabis" while a student at Oxford University.

As the row emerged last night, a Tory spokesman dismissed the claims, saying: "David has always maintained that politicians have a right to a private life before they come into politics." Pressure is now mounting on the Conservative leader to make clear whether or not he has taken drugs in the past. When asked on BBC News 24 if Cameron should make a public statement, Lord Tebbit, former Cabinet minister and Conservative party chairman, said: "If it's established that he did use cannabis what he needs to do is say something, do something to get it out of the way. You don't generally get that when you say 'no comment'." The biography's co-author, Francis Elliott, said he believed the revelation will not prove damaging for Cameron. "My guess is most people would think that, for a man of his age, it is not unusual." Within minutes of the news breaking, Cameron's "open blog" on his website was buzzing with debate.

One contributor, known as Donnie, wrote: "The trouble is these people are all so two-faced, it's always a case of do as I say not as I do." The allegations come just weeks after Cameron said he would be "relaxed" over legalising cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Cameron hit the headlines during the party's annual conference in Blackpool in 2005 when he brushed aside a series of questions about the drugs he did or didn't take at Oxford University.

Later in an interview he revealed: "I did lots of things before I came into politics I shouldn't have done. We all did."