Conservative Party leader David Cameron was heckled today as he addressed a roomful of students and job-seekers in south London.
Cameron was booed by a handful of teenagers, some of whom shouted "No Tory cuts" as he addressed students at Lewisham College, a further education institution in Deptford.
During a five-minute address to around 100 students in a campus workshop he faced a number of taunts, including one reference to his party being unchanged since the days of Margaret Thatcher.
Cameron said he would not apologise for "telling the truth" that Britain's burgeoning fiscal deficit had to be faced head-on if he was elected.
"You need to trust the person who's telling you the truth. I'm telling you that these are difficult times because you have the right to hear it. I'm not going to give you soft soap now and tell you the difficult stuff later," he said.
Asked by students about Tory plans to cut unemployment benefits for those refusing to take a job, Cameron said he was unapologetic.
"If you can work and you want to work but you can't find a job we will help you. If you don't take that job we don't think you should be able to claim the benefits you were claiming before. You should have a reduction in your benefit," he said.
One questioner, Jacob Hewitt, an unemployed trainee plumber, asked Cameron why MPs were given a second homes allowance.
Cameron defended the right of MPs to claim an allowance, but said it had to be altered from its present form.
"They do have to live in two different places. They have to live in their constituency. We are saying 'no more paying for food, no more paying for furniture. None of the rubbish. Every single thing must be transparent. If they break the rules they will be turfed out of parliament by their constituents."
Speaking afterwards Hewitt, 29, said he was annoyed that he faced criticism for receiving unemployment benefit while MPs were claiming large amounts of money for expenses.
"As somebody who is signing on and being told I'm scum for claiming benefit I get offended about the money they're spending on expenses. I think it's two-faced," he said.
When questioned by a reporter on the severity of his grilling, Cameron said he would not shrink from meeting the general public during the forthcoming general election campaign. He accused Gordon Brown of only being willing to speak in front of a pre-screened audience
"Politics should be lively, there should be arguments. Find me the time when the prime minister stands in front of a room full of unscreened people. I got the thumbs-up from the man who said he didn't like Margaret Thatcher," he said.
Cameron also called on Brown to intervene in the increasingly bitter dispute between British Airways and the trade union Unite, who have threatened a four-day strike in the run-up to Easter.
"We need the government to take a strong line on this. We need to hear this from the prime minister. Strikes are not a good thing," he said.