‘Death knows no privilege’: David Cameron responds to controversial editorial about son

In a personal interview, former PM says he wants to try to repair his relationship with Michael Gove

David Cameron has spoken out over a swiftly-retracted newspaper editorial which suggested that he felt only “privileged pain” on the death of his disabled son Ivan.

The former prime minister – who speaks of his grief in his memoirs, published today – rejected the claim, saying: “Death knows no privilege.”

The Guardian removed the remarks within hours of publication online and sent an apology to Mr Cameron.

The ex-PM said in an interview broadcast today that he did not understand what the newspaper was trying to say in the piece, which said that he “has known pain and failure in his life but it has always been limited failure and privileged pain”.

Asked about the editorial during an interview with LBC radio, Mr Cameron said: “There is no privilege in holding your eldest born child in your arms as their life drains away. Death knows no privilege.”

He said that the editorial “passed me by” on Sunday evening and had been withdrawn before he even heard about it.

“I got an apology from Kath Viner, the editor of The Guardian before I’d hardly even seen it.

“From the little I saw of it, I couldn’t understand what they were trying to say. But fortunately it has been deleted and apologised for, so I think we can leave it there.”

In the interview, Mr Cameron also spoke about his ruptured relationship with Michael Gove following his former cabinet ally’s decision to campaign on the Leave side in the EU referendum.

Gove’s wife Sarah Vine revealed in her Daily Mail that she had not spoken to Cameron after falling out with him and wife Samantha over Brexit at a party. The two couples had previously been close friends, sharing holidays and weekends.

David Cameron and his wife Samatha with their son Ivan in December 2008. (John Giles/PA Archive)

Cameron and Gove’s disagreement over Brexit delivered “the final hammer blow” to the relationship, wrote Ms Vine.

Asked if the rift will ever be repaired, Mr Cameron told interviewer Nick Ferrari: “We were very close, and the children were friends and all the rest of it. Who knows, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge.

“I want to try. I think the difficulty is just that Michael was a very, very close member of the team. He was so central to my thinking on education reform and other things, and so watching what happened next was very painful and I did in some ways think he’d become quite a different person in all of it.

“But as I say, life goes on.”

Mr Cameron showed exasperation at his treatment as PM by Commons Speaker John Bercow.

“There were times, I have to admit, when I almost got out of bed every morning and thought, ‘Whatever John Bercow, whatever the Speaker can do to make my life hell today, he will do’. And that, on the whole, was a pretty good guide to life.

“Now, the Speaker’s not there to be nice to the Prime Minister, of course. But there were times when things were done which had never been done before, taking amendments to the Queen’s Speech on a European referendum – odd now that he’s such an opponent of it.

“Things were done sometimes, you scratch your head and thought ’Hold on, where the hell did that one come from?’ You know, he was elected by MPs, you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got.”