UK PM defends privileged upbringing
British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended his privileged upbringing and spoken of his pride in his stockbroker father.
Cameron, who went to expensive private school Eton and comes from a family of generations of stockbrokers, insisted he would not "rewrite history" and pretend to be something he is not.
He accused opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband of resorting to "personal abuse" in his speech to Labour's conference last week, in which he said that Cameron "stands up for the privileged few".
Cameron told The Sun newspaper: "I can't change the school I went to, upbringing I had or the parents I have and nor would I want to.
"I am the first of my family not to be a stockbroker in about six generations. I am sorry, what am I meant to do? Rewrite history?
"I am proud of my dad. He was passionate about bringing up a family and trying to do the best for us."
Cameron said he often thought of his father Ian, who died four years ago, and imagines him in heaven with a stiff drink, "looking down and thinking `Yes, my boy has made a mistake or two, but he is doing his best'".
The prime minister said his family life in his Oxfordshire constituency helped him keep in touch with "normal life", as he was able to do his own shopping, go to the pub and take his children to school.
