Cameron: No "silver bullet" on binge-drinking

David Cameron is a man who clearly knows his way around a pub. It's reassuring to think the 41-year-old Tory leader, whose party is currently 4/6 favourite to win the next election, has a grasp of pub life.

"I'm very lucky because I have a constituency with 85 parishes, loads of amazing pubs, and I've been to most of them," he chuckles, as he sips a pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord.

Cameron's constituency is Witney, in the heart of the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, which is indeed blessed with a plethora of picture postcard pubs.

Among them is the Maytime, in the hamlet of Asthall, where I find myself sat with the man once dubbed the new Tony Blair.

But he seems to have shaken off this tag - and hearing the Old-Etonian riff on the pleasures of real ale can only help.

"In the pub I love drinking real ale, I'm a particular fan of Sharp's Doom Bar. That's a nice pint, it's very good," he says.

Somehow, it's harder to imagine Tony talking his way around the delights of a decent pint. Help for pubs

But enough of this cheer for beer. Four traditional pubs a day are closing and the government has just unveiled the harshest Budget for the trade in living memory.

The question is, if elected, how can the Conservatives help?

"There is too much regulation and I think we can help by being a government that tries to keep regulation down," says Cameron. "That would make a big difference."

At the same time he issues a call to arms to people who bleat on about losing pubs, while not visiting them.

"The most important thing is to recognise it's not just the government. If you want to keep your local pub, you have to use it," he says sternly.

On the issue of tax, the Tories have quite a radical answer. Increase duty on ready-to-drinks (RTDs) and high-strength lagers and ciders, while reducing it on normal beers and ciders by around 8p. I counter with the government's claim that RTDs cannot be singled out for tax rises.

Cameron retorts: "Well, the Germans did it on alcopops, so I don't see why we can't. And instead of saying 'no we can't', the government ought to spend more time working out how we can."

Licensing laws

Of course we wouldn't be having such a detailed discussion on tax if alcohol hadn't taken centre stage recently as the thing most likely to destroy Western civilisation.

This debate was ratcheted up a notch by the relaxation of the UK's licensing laws - an issue at the heart of Labour's last election manifesto.

The result of last month's government review of the Act showed that violence was slightly down, but overall there was a broadly neutral effect.

Many on the right of the political spectrum, and plenty on the left, were against the shake-up in licensing laws.

But does Cameron now feel it has been a success?

"It was right to move away from a single closing time, flexibility was a good idea," he concedes. "But in some cases I feel communities didn't get enough of a say over what was happening and the government are slightly shutting their eyes to that."Watching the shops

In the same review, some of the industry was angry that the off-trade was not singled out for its irresponsible approach. Does the Tory leader think supermarkets are to blame?

"You can't point the finger exclusively at bars, pubs, supermarkets or convenience stores," he says.

"But it's true to say for a long time politicians and others were ignoring the problem of the local shop that wasn't focusing properly on the problem of selling alcohol to underage drinkers.

"We must make sure the police feel empowered that if off-licences are selling alcohol to underage people they should have their licence taken away. We should be really tough about that.

"And I always sensed that publicans were getting frustrated because they were getting all the blame."

Cameron offers hope of action on supermarkets. "One of the things we've said is we want to stop the practice of heavily discounted alcohol in supermarkets, we need to change the law," he explains.

Binge-drinking

Ultimately though, Cameron, who served as a non-executive director of Tiger Tiger operator Novus Leisure (formerly Urbium) until 2005, says there is no "silver bullet" when it comes to addressing binge-drinking.

"What we want is a continental social drinking culture," he says. "But you don't get there just by changing the law, or increasing taxes, you get there by a big cultural change.

"It's about how we bring up our kids, what we teach them at school, about how our businesses behave, about how supermarkets behave, about how the media behave and until we think about it like that we won't actually crack it."

Personal responsibility is also a big point for the MP.

"That is massive," he states. "In the end the one word that sums up politics for me is 'responsibility'. And this is a classic example."

The smoking ban

All fair points. But I can't let him go without quizzing him on the other issue still very much cloaking the trade - the smoking ban.

Cameron reveals he was against the idea originally, due to his pro-choice beliefs. Yet he accepts it now. "We lost the argument and we've moved on," he says.

And are pubs better for it?

"Yes," he replies. "We are all better off, because we are not smoking, but for a lot of people it's a big change, because going to the pub for a pint and a fag was part of life."

As we come to the end of the interview, there's just time for a quick photo and one last chance to discuss the merits of real ale and the man who would be PM shows, when all is said and done, he is a true political animal.

"So this is a good pint actually, Landlord, is it? Who brews that?" he asks. Timothy Taylor of Keighley in West Yorkshire, I respond politely.

He fires back: "Ah, Keighley, that's a key marginal seat, I must remember that."

Cameron on…

What defines binge-drinking?​

"It's drinking to get really really drunk, rather than enjoying a drink and a chat.

"Don't tell me that anyone goes to buy three litres of White Lightning for £3 to go and have a social drink with their mates. People buy that stuff to get off their head and that to me is what binge-drinking is."

What makes a great pub? ​

"I like the friendly local, I like my local in Chadlington in Oxfordshire, the Tite Inn.

"I like somewhere you get really good beer, real ale. I like good pub food and I like having a garden so you can take the kids, I like family friendly, somewhere that feels part of the community. A good village pub."  

The smoking ban ​

"I don't like bans. I don't like the hunting ban, I don't like smacking bans and I don't like smoking bans.

"I'm just not a banner. But you know, I think the country has moved on, and people have accepted the smoking ban."