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Brown 'in by-election bunker' , says Cameron

Pa
Wednesday 21 May 2008 13:49 BST
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Tory leader David Cameron taunted the Prime Minister in the Commons for not visiting Crewe and Nantwich during the by-election campaign, claiming he had "put himself in his bunker". Mr Brown said it was a convention that Prime Ministers did not normally campaign in such contests.

At Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said: "He brought forward his draft Queen's Speech and introduced a mini-Budget, all because of the by-election.

"Why hasn't he had the courage to go to Crewe and Nantwich to explain these points to people on the streets of these towns?"

Mr Brown told MPs: "He knows that it is the tradition that Prime Ministers don't go to by-elections."

But Mr Cameron reminded him that his predecessor Tony Blair broke with that tradition in 1997, when he became the first PM in more than 30 years to campaign in a by-election, saying he wanted to "lead from the front" in Uxbridge, which was eventually won by the Tories.

"Instead of leading from the front, hasn't the Prime Minister just put himself into his bunker?" asked the Tory leader.

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