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PM's 'New Tory Convert' Switched 30 Years Ago

The man who David Cameron implied was a recent convert to the Conservatives has told Sky News he was "absolutely amazed" his letter was read out to the party conference - as he'd swapped allegiance nearly 30 years ago.

Bernard Harris, 82, wrote to Number 10 to say he had "supported the Labour party for a number of years," but he now voted Conservative.

Mr Cameron quoted sections from Mr Harris' letter including: "In my life I have foolishly voted Labour, believing it served the working class. How wrong I was. Labour is against all I aspire to."

The Conservative leader appeared to imply the octogenarian had recently changed political affiliation, but it soon surfaced Mr Harris had started supporting the Tories in 1987.

Mr Harris told Sky News: "There was nothing in my letter to suggest that (I was a recent Conservative convert). Nothing at all, and that certainly wasn’t in my mind.

"Labour has shot itself in the foot and has a lot or work to be a reliable opposition, because at the moment the signs are that they’re on the way out."

He added: "I thought I might get a (response) letter from one of his secretaries, or I might not. I didn’t write it for that reason, I just wanted to let the Prime Minister know I was supporting him.

"My thinking is not for myself, it’s for my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I want them to be able to go to university, I want them to be able to have their own house and I want them to do well in life."

Mr Harris, from Leicester, was a trade union official until 1986.

A senior No 10 source told Sky News: "How is the Prime Minister being misleading? He quoted verbatim from a letter that was sent to him.

"In the letter Mr Harris simply says 'In my life I have foolishly voted Labour…' And the Prime Minister simply said he wanted others to follow his footsteps. There’s absolutely no reference to timing."