By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 11:05, Saturday, 10 November 2012

Advice on potty training was the last thing a group of Carlisle mums thought they would be talking to David Cameron about.

David Cameron chats with Kelsey Kimberley and daughter Ruby as Michelle Campbell looks on

The mums, who attend the Living Well Trust in Raffles, sat with the Prime Minister on a sofa and chatted over a mug of tea.

The trust was established in Raffles in 1996 by former Eddie Stobart commercial director Barrie Thomas.

It now works with disadvantaged youngsters all over the country.

For security reasons, senior staff had only had 24 hours’ warning of the visit.

Kelsey Kimberley, 22, who was there with daughters Paige, 22 months, and Ruby, aged two, said: “He said he was potty training his daughter and asked what are the best tips, which wasn’t what I expected him to say.

“I thought he was all right. He seemed very nice. I liked the way he spoke about his private life.”

Michelle Campbell, a grandmother who does voluntary work at Living Well, was also charmed.

She said: “He was actually normal. It was just like having a conversation with somebody I’d met before.

“He asked me how long I’d been coming to the centre and I said 13 years.

“I’m easy going and can talk to anybody but I was surprised how comfortable he was.

“It’s not very often you get somebody like that coming to Raffles.”

She added: “I have a voting card but I don’t have a clue about the police commissioner elections. I don’t know who we are supposed to vote for or what we are voting for.”

Mr Cameron also met young rap musicians tutored by Adam Brown, aka Ad-Apt.

Keiran Penny, 16, got the surprise of his life when the Prime Minister asked him to sing.

He said: “They said this morning that somebody special was coming and I thought would be the mayor.

“I never thought I’d meet the Prime Minister. I was shocked to be honest with you.

“He was asking questions and asked if I’d sing so I sang about how I’d got a job with Adam’s help.”

Mr Cameron held talks with Mr Thomas and the Living Well Trust’s chief executive, Geoff Baxter, before he fielded questions from journalists.

Inevitably, his infamous interview with Philip Schofield on ITV’s This Morning came up, where Mr Cameron had warned of a “witch hunt” against gays.

He has since been criticised by gay-rights’ campaigners for appearing to equate homosexuality with paedophilia.

The Prime Minister said the TV presenter had been wrong to present him with a list of names of people who had been accused on the internet of being child abusers.

He said: “If you go on the Twittersphere and the internet, there are fingers being pointed and aspersions being cast against people because they happen to be gay. There is a danger there. That’s what I was trying to say.”..

First published at 10:27, Saturday, 10 November 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk