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A post circulating Facebook and elsewhere reads:

Nelson Mandela will die soon. Today, tomorrow, this week, next week. It won't be long. Remember this, he out-lived Thatcher. When he does die, and David Cameron jumps on the Mandela bandwagon, remember that in 1985 he was a top member of the Federation of Conservative Students, which produced the "Hang Mandela" posters. In 1989, Cameron worked in the Tory Policy Unit at Central Office and went on an anti-sanctions fact-finding mission to South Africa with a pro-apartheid lobby firm sponsored by PW Botha. Remember this when he tells the world he was inspired by Madiba.

Example Facebook link

The text I pasted is subtly different from the photo captured here - both are in circulation, but the former is privately shared, and I imagine susceptible to link rot.

enter image description here

The 1989 trip to South Africa, and its sponsorship by an anti-sanctions lobby firm is well documented.

I have found plenty of corroboration for the existence of the poster in question, produced by the Foundation of Conservative Students, but not the exact year it was produced, nor evidence that Cameron was a member of the organisation, and it so, when.

So, was David Cameron a "top member" of the FCS at the time these posters were produced? Is there evidence that he was instrumental in, or sympathetic to, the production of these posters?

ike
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slim
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    Cameron's freebie to apartheid South Africa - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/camerons-freebie-to-apartheid-south-africa-1674367.html – Tom77 Jun 27 '13 at 09:30
  • remember that Mandela was indeed a terrorist and has blood on his hands. He may be the posterboy of the anti-Apartheid movement, but he's no choir boy. – jwenting Jun 28 '13 at 05:15
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    @jwenting what blood ? – NimChimpsky Jun 28 '13 at 10:31
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    Let's not pollute this question with debate on whether or not Mandela and the ANC's activities were terrorist. It's orthogonal to the question asked. – slim Jun 28 '13 at 11:50
  • no slim, it's not. That poster is on the same level as calling for the heads of IRA terrorists, or RAF terrorists, or AQ, etc. – jwenting Jun 28 '13 at 13:36
  • @NimChimpsky the ANC had a large scale terror campaign more violent than that orchestrated by say the IRA, RAF, Shining Path, and similar organisations elsewhere. – jwenting Jun 28 '13 at 13:37
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    @jwenting more violent ? I find that extremely hard to believe. Also, the ANC's political idealogy was for equal rights for black people - which is rather different to the other groups you mention; the vast majority of rational people support the anc's view, whereas they don't with the other groups you mention. – NimChimpsky Jun 28 '13 at 13:41
  • @NimChimpsky you've just been duped by the propaganda, the RAF, IRA, Shining Path, etc. etc. also tried to portray themselves as fighting for "social justice", "equality", etc.. – jwenting Jun 28 '13 at 13:44
  • @jwenting black people didn't have the vote, thats not propaganda. Your focus on the evils of the ANC/mandela, and not for example the south african government during the apartheid years is rather strange and somewhat scary. – NimChimpsky Jun 28 '13 at 13:44
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    Please stop it; it is orthogonal; there are other places you can engage in that debate. The question is not "was this poster justified" or "was NM a terrorist". The question is "was David Cameron partly responsible for it". – slim Jun 28 '13 at 14:24
  • Yeah, let's not let this site turn into YouTube, where any post can generate an argument about any subject. – Max Williams Dec 06 '13 at 12:45
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    There's now a separate question on whether Mandela was a killer: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18605/was-nelson-mandela-a-killer – Andrew Grimm Dec 16 '13 at 12:22
  • As Cameron hardly needed holiday money, I think we can reject the notion that it was purely a jolly, as suggested by the Indo article referenced by @Tom77. Cameron's father was in stockbroking and investment fund management. You'd expect people from the same walk of life to be frequent house-guests to the Cameron home as DC was growing up. It's natural to support one's father if he has been kind to you - even if his actions aren't always kosher. We await further evidence to support/refute the seriousness of Cameron's trip and his 1980s stance on apartheid. Any Cambridge ZA debate positions ? – Trunk Aug 14 '21 at 15:23

1 Answers1

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I can find no evidence that David Cameron was a member of the Foundation of Conservative Students. According to biographies of David Cameron he wasn't politically active while he was a student and his political views were not extreme:

New Statesman - What Does David Cameron Want?

Unlike Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, Cameron stayed clear of student politics and of the Oxford Union.

BBC - David Cameron: Life and times of new UK prime minister

School friends say Mr Cameron was never seen as a great academic - or noted for his interest in politics, beyond the "mainstream Conservative" views held by most of his classmates.

...

At Oxford, he avoided student politics because, according to one friend from the time, Steve Rathbone, "he wanted to have a good time".

Francis Elliott, James Hanning - Cameron: The Rise Of The New Conservative

While future Tory stars ... threw themselves into student politics either at the Oxford Union or in the Oxford University Conservative Association, Cameron stayed on the sidelines, rather as he had at Eton.

...

'Dave's politics were very much centrist Tory', says Rathbone. 'He was always very mistrustful of the Monday Club types who were always banging on about how Mandela [then still in prison] was a terrorist.'

Tom77
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  • "he wanted to have a good time". - he CLEARLY took to heart the lessons learned from "How did Clinton become President" :) – user5341 Jun 28 '13 at 17:43