The private life of David Cameron

I was delighted to learn that one of the journalists who hung David Cameron out to dry over his Eton drug taking habit was a chap called Francis Elliott who used to work for me as Westminster lobby correspondent when I was news editor at the Derby Evening Telegraph.
The boy done good.
As we point out in our editorial comment today, the voting public probably will not judge a potential prime minister over youthful misdemeanours - Cameron really does have a great deal more to say about more pressing domestic and global issues.
But I totally disagree with Cameron's claim that policiticians are "entitled " to a private past. The public have a right to know what makes these people who they are today. Why shouldn't we know about his incredibly privileged upbringing? Why should there be secrecy about the culture of soft drug misuse in the 1980s at a school which has produced no less than 18 prime ministers?
Last month Cameron said he would consider legalising cannabis for medicinal use but ruled out decriminalising its recreational use. How much more faith would people have in politicians if he'd said: "yes I did smoke cannabis when I was stupid little boy. Now I've read all the literature about the potentially harmful effects of the long-term use of this drug, I regret what I did and I was jolly lucky not to be expelled."
Then we can get in with the more important question of why he insists he's not snorted cocaine "since becoming an MP".