David Cameron’s daughter launched into F-word outburst as Brexit stress took toll on the family
SHOCKED David Cameron heard his daughter launch into a four-letter outburst as the stress of the Brexit referendum took its toll on everyone in his family.
The startled ex-PM heard the outburst from young Nancy as the family buckled under the strain of the doomed EU vote.
Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha listened in on the screaming match at a school fair in the run-up to the referendum three years ago.
In his book For The Record, he said: “There had been a contretemps between her and a bigger girl at the school fair, who had asked if she was for ‘out’ or for ‘in’.
“Nancy replied she was for in. The girl said, ‘Well, f*** you’.
“Nancy replied ‘Well, f*** you too’. Sam and I had never heard her say the F-word. We thought it was a bit shocking, but rather extraordinary.”
The ex-Tory leader, who quit over the Brexit vote, revealed how Nancy and son Elwen noticed their dad was struggling to cope with stress during the four-month campaign.
Mr Cameron, 52, heaped praise on his “sweet and supportive” children Nancy, now 15, Elwen, 13, and Florence, nine, as he struggled to convince voters over his Brexit gamble.
‘SWEET & SUPPORTIVE’
In the book, out this week, he expressed his love for them — and said he was particularly proud of Nancy and Elwen.
They were old enough to understand what was going on and had become wrapped up in the fight to stay in the European Union.
He said: “Nancy and Elwen had been so engaged in the campaign, and so sweet and supportive to me.
“I knew they knew I was stressed, because they’d been hugging me more than usual.
“Nancy had been taking my ‘Conservative in’ campaign badges and giving them to her friends.”
Mr Cameron also reveals how son Elwen gave a brilliant account of himself in a school debate — on the morning his dad revealed he was leaving No 10.
He writes: “On the morning I gave my resignation speech outside No 10, Elwen was in a school project in which they would act out the UN having a debate on human rights.
“They had been rehearsing, with a German girl in his class playing Angela Merkel, an American boy playing Barack Obama and Elwen playing me.
“The teachers asked him that morning if he wanted to go ahead, or if it would be too upsetting, given what had just happened. ‘I want to do it for my dad’, he replied. His performance apparently had the watching parents in tears.”
But it was not the first time his children had been closely involved in make-or-break occasions during their dad’s six years in Downing Street.
When the polls closed at the end of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, The Sun on Sunday revealed how Mr Cameron had put his children to bed telling them that daddy might lose his job.
They were dressed for the occasion in tartan pyjamas.
Mr Cameron also lavished praise on the Queen for coming to his rescue to stop the United Kingdom from being broken up.
He revealed he was thrilled when the monarch intervened with a stark warning over the independence vote, which had been spearheaded by SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond.
Mr Cameron said that during his annual trip to the Queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, he was struggling to believe he could win just a fortnight before the crunch poll.
He said he had arrived at the estate as someone who had allowed the “possible disintegration” of a country she had ruled for more than 60 years.
But he said: “One week later, however, the Queen spoke to some of those gathered outside Crathie Kirk and said she hoped Scots would ‘think very carefully’ about the vote. I was delighted”.
‘THINK VERY CAREFULLY’
Mr Cameron said the September 2014 vote was at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts — but that the Queen remained “charming”.
Guests of the royals in Scotland are accustomed to Prince Philip cooking on the barbecue — and there were no surprises what came up in conversation.
Mr Cameron said: “As Prince Philip showed me the barbecue he had designed to roast grouse and sausages up at the hillside bothy, the referendum was clearly on everyone’s mind. They gingerly asked questions but knew they shouldn’t express too strong an opinion.”
But the warning signs were flashing in front of him as he stayed on the estate — with polls showing the UK could break up.
He said: “The next day at breakfast, there it was in cold print. Among the kippers and the kedgeree was The Sunday Times, with the headline ‘Yes vote leads in Scots poll’.
“The Queen wasn’t there — she usually had breakfast alone. Instead, I was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, equerries and the moderator of the Church of Scotland.
“I tried to reassure them about ‘rogue polls’, but I was struggling to convince myself, let alone them.”
Later that month, a jubilant Mr Cameron was caught saying the Queen “purred down the line” after he phoned her to reveal Scotland had voted no to independence.
He later said he was “extremely sorry and very embarrassed” for revealing the conversation that suggested the Queen wanted Scotland to remain in the UK. And two years later, he would go through the stress of a poll again, this time over whether or not to leave the EU.
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Mr Cameron reveals in his book he is “truly sorry” for the uncertainty and the division that has emerged since the 2016 Brexit vote.
He says he thinks about the consequences “every single day” and admits to worrying desperately about what happens next.
But he insisted giving Brits a say over EU membership was the right approach — and believes a second vote could be the best route for “unblocking the blockage” that has paralysed the political system.
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