British opposition leader Cameron apologises over gaffe

British opposition leader David Cameron, who hopes to become Prime Minister next year, apologised yesterday after swearing on the radio when talking about Twitter users.

Mr Cameron, whose Conservative Party is widely tipped to win general elections due by next June, made the comments when asked if he used the increasingly ubiquitous microblogging site.

"No I'm not. I'm not on Twitter. I think that politicians do have to think what we say, and I think the trouble with Twitter (is) the instantness of it ...," Mr Cameron told Absolute Radio while using foul language to express himself.

A short time later he compounded the problem when talking about the public perception of politicians, which has plummeted to a new low following a recent scandal over parliamentary expenses.

But once again he ended up using another vulgar expression.

Even worse came in a podcast made by the radio interviewer, in which he recounted an exchange between Mr Cameron and his female press adviser immediately after the show.

The presenter explained: "He (Mr Cameron) said 'That seemed to go OK.' She (his press adviser) said 'Yeah, apart from the language.' But Mr Cameron seemed to get it all wrong and he ended up discussing which of the expressions he had used were actually swear words.

Speaking later, Mr Cameron voiced regret over the whole exchange.

"You always have to be careful what you say. If I've caused any offence I obviously regret that. I was doing a radio interview and I'm sure that people will understand that."

Mr Cameron's Conservatives are beating Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party by 18 percentage points, according to the latest poll yesterday, putting the Tories on 42 per cent and Labour on 24 per cent.