David Cameron’s London gaffe

Even the retired partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their pension and severance pay were caught entirely off-guard by the damning statement of David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain on the eve of the Anti-Corruption Summit he was hosting: He was caught on camera boasting to Queen about ‘fantastically corrupt’ countries attending his anti-corruption summit. He admitted to the Queen that that Nigeria and Afghanistan are   “two of the most corrupt countries in the world” in a private conversation with the Queen. The comments caused a row because the two developing countries receive between them hundreds of millions of pounds      in aid money from British taxpayers every year.

There was speculation in Westminster that Mr Cameron could have made the remarks near the cameras in a bid to attract publicity for the summit. Number 10 admitted the Prime Minister was aware he was being filmed at the time he spoke, saying: “The cameras were very close to him. There were multiple cameras in the room.” But Conservative MPs who are critics of the size of the aid budget     seized on the admission, pointing out that in 2014 Nigeria and   Afghanistan received £435million in aid from the UK.

Andrew Bridgen MP said the payments to the two countries had to    stop “because it’s like offering a bottle of whisky to an alcoholic, they need to clean up their act first”. He added: “There should be a DfiD list of corrupt regimes that don’t get aid and list should be publicised to put pressure on these corrupt regimes.” Philip Davies, another critical Tory MP, added: “I am sure the Prime Minister is right about these countries – I have got no doubt he is right about them. “And so it is absolutely unforgivable that we are giving so much British taxpayers’ money that he knows himself are corrupt.”

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and Afghan President      Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who are both planning to attend    the summit, have acknowledged corruption in their countries and   have pledged to clean it up.

Afghanistan is 166th, second-from-bottom, in campaign group      Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index,     an annual ranking of countries. Nigeria is 136th in the index.

It emerged this week that Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari    had spent £150,000 educating his daughter Zahra, at Surrey    University student.

Mr Cameron’s comments threatened to become a diplomatic      incident, when Mr Buhari said his government was deeply “shocked and embarrassed” by the comments.

Speaking through his spokesman to the BBC he said Mr Cameron must be referring to Nigeria’s past notoriety for corruption before    his coming to power last year

A Number 10 spokesman said that “British aid money does not go    directly to the Nigerian or Afghan governments” and the UK was    not paying for delegations to attend the summit.

He added: “We have a zero tolerance approach to corruption and have rigorous checks in place to protect taxpayers’ money and take     firm action if it is misused.”

The Queen met Mr Cameron and other political leaders from both      the Lords and the Commons at Buckingham Palace to mark the her   90th birthday.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a noted republican who kicked off Labour’s In For Britain EU campaign on Tuesday, missed the     engagement.

He was attending a family funeral instead, and a Buckingham    Palace spokesman said he had “personally written” to the Queen     explaining his absence.

Wearing a blue and white floral day dress, the Queen, who has broken records with her 64-year reign, met the political figures    from both the Lords and the Commons in the Palace’s White     Drawing Room.

Mr Cameron’s gaffe is not the first time he has been caught on   film. In 2014, he was filmed telling New York’s mayor that the Queen had “purred down the line” after he had called her to say    Scotland had rejected independence.

The secretary general of the Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland, described the furore provoked by Mr Cameron’s off-guard remarks as “unfortunate”.

The former Labour government minister told BBC Radio Four’s     Today programme: “I think it was unfortunate that it was purveyed   in that way.

“I think the whole point of us having this conference is that      president Buhari, and many other leaders … everyone knows that corruption is a global problem, and the fight is on against it.

“And what president Buhari did is set out an agenda that got him   elected, that he was going to tackle corruption, and tackle it head- on.

“He is going to be the key note speaker.”

Asked whether Mr Cameron should apologise, former mayor of   London Boris Johnson told BBC Breakfast: “I think the Prime      Minister, as far as I understand it, was speaking very candidly about the problems of global corruption.

“I think most people will find it refreshing he was speaking his   mind. The more people who speak their minds the better, in my view.”

 J.K. Randle