David Cameron questioned on Conservative breaches of election law

Channel 4 News asks former Prime Minister David Cameron if he accepts any personal responsibility for the repeated breaches of election law found by the Electoral Commission that took place while he was party leader. The commission issued the party with a record £70,000 fine, and a dozen police forces have passed files to the Crown Prosecution Service.

“I don’t feel I can give a long answer, other than to refer you back to the statement that Conservative Central Office has made,” Cameron said. “In terms of a party being fined, it’s not the first time this has happened; other parties have been fined.”

Appearing for an event at the London School of Economics, Cameron continued: “I’m very glad we do have robust election spending limits, and robust ways of policing these things in this country.”

The Electoral Commission found “significant failures” by the Conservative Party to report spending in the 2015 General Election and in three by-elections in 2014. The Commission also suggested that the advantage gained by the party, via spending that was incorrectly recorded, “meant that there was a realistic prospect that this enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents”.