David Cameron is wrong, pure and simple

Some - almost all - of the commenters on my post below on David Cameron's Auschwitz trip gimmick comment accuse me of missing the point - that all the Tory leader was doing was saying that in announcing such trips and then leaving schools to find £100 for them, Gordon Brown was being typically gimmicky.

In fact, my post acknowledged that that was Mr Cameron's purpose, but pointed out the political reality of what he said and how he said it. (I didn't write this but there was initially a document circulated which was simply a list of Labour's gimmicks, with 'Trips to Auschwitz' listed as No 4. No context, no explanation, no nothing.)

I was alerted to this by a friend who has been involved in this area who was beyond indignant. She is not a fool and knew perfectly well the context of the gimmick accusation - the £100 schools have to find. She is also a Conservative. And she was heated with anger that Mr Cameron should choose this as a politcal weapon when the gimmick he claimed was no gimmick at all. 

In that vein, I'd like to post here a comment left on my original post by someone else involved in the trips. Regular readers ewill know I am the last person to defend the government for its public spending habits. But in this instance, Mr Cameron is wrong, wrong, wrong, and has done himself immense harm by  trying to score political points on the foundation of a deep ignorance:  

I am an educator on these trips and am actually going on one such trip to Auschwitz tomorrow with 200 students.

In saying that this is indeed a gimmick becuase the schools are being asked for £100 towards the cost, I am afraid that many of you miss the point.

These trips have been running for 9 years and until two years ago the Holocaust Educational Trust was only able to afford to organise two trips a year - base in London. Thanks to the Government, there were 9 trips last year and will be 15 this year - departing from all over the country. With the Government's help, over 2000 more students are able to go each year than previously.

Of course, there are a range of views on the educational value of a day visit to Auschwitz. Howevere, what is undeniable is the impact it makes on these studnets, and the follow up work that they do n their schools and communities to educate about the evils of xenophobia, racism and prejudice.

I am a Tory voter , and Lord knows there is much to criticise this government for. But this is something they have got right, and David Cameron has got very wrong. His attack is simply ignorant and makes me look at him in a very different light.