Cameron strong on party funding, vulnerable on dinner party etiquette

The monthly Cameron press conference is far more congenial than Brown’s. Coffee is offered at the door, together with biscuits made by the chef in downstairs kitchen. But for all that, it’s quite thinly attended and short (30 mins). Cameron called every journalist in the room by their first name, being utterly at ease. I guess one of the purposes of these briefings will be to strike a contrast with Brown, who only knows a handful of journalists..

Cameron had an entrée for us. He announced, statesman-style, that he’d just spoken to Sayeeda Warsi in Sudan and could confirm the pardon of Gillian Gibbons. No one cared. All questions were on party funding. A ban in billboard advertising “would be more Stalin than Mr Bean” he said.  Intriguingly Cameron says “parties do make mistakes, all of us have done this over the years”. Oooh, done what? Accepted cash from proxy donors? The Times’ Francis Elliot picked up this point.