David Cameron has admitted to suffering from occasional “working parent guilt”, in an interview where he opened up about family life in number 10.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he tries to take his three children to school once every two weeks, but “sometimes that slips and I feel bad about it”.
The prime minister added: “That sort of time, taking them into school, chatting to the teacher and finding out how they’re getting on – I love all that.”
He said that for most people in the country the cost of childcare was the most important issue: “It’s not like one issue among many, it’s the issue – you’re sitting around the table and you’re saying I’d like to work more hours and more days and I can’t because the childcare is too expensive.”
Cameron admitted to having a live-in nanny, saying he was very lucky and that it was something he could afford because both he and his wife Samantha were in work. He told the programme that “you can’t insulate your children from what you do” and said his children got teased “a little bit” because he was prime minister.
He insisted that his children led a “relatively normal life” and that Florence, his youngest daughter, who was born while Cameron was prime minister, was much more used to Downing Street life: “She used to wander around the place like it was all her own.
“They are beginning to understand what being prime minister is all about,” he added. “So I hope they are sort of proud that their daddy does an important job.” Asked whether he felt “working parent’s guilt”, Cameron replied: “Sometimes.”
Echoing comments Ed Miliband made about his two sons becoming aware of politics and supporting the “red team”, Cameron said his children were now “very keen that the blue team win and they know daddy is in a tough fight”.
The interview came on the day that the Sun published a video interview with Cameron, where he allowed the paper to attach a camera to this head – dubbed the “Cam Cam” – so viewers could see what life was like from the prime minister’s perspective. The interview shows him preparing sardines with tomato and lemon, which he calls sardines à la Cameron, and lamenting the fact that he can’t just pop to the shops to get a pint of milk and a newspaper.
