David Cameron reveals: 'A white van man tried to push me under traffic'

David Cameron has told how he was attacked by a white van driver who attempted to push him into the path on an oncoming car.

The Tory leader was cycling home from a dinner late one night when he became aware of a white van following him, stopping and starting erratically.

In an attempt to shake off his pursuer Mr Cameron turned into a side street but the van sped up and an occupant leaned out of the window and tried to push him off his bike.

The incident is related in new book Cameron On Cameron, based on a series of interviews with GQ editor Dylan Jones.

In the book, Mr Cameron says: "I turned down a road I don't normally go down and I slowed down.

"As this van drove by, this hand came out and just bashed me in the back with the aim of pushing me in front of the car.

"Luckily I managed to put the brakes on. He gave me a hell of a shock."

In the book Mr Cameron accused the police of "demonising the middle classes" as he revealed how living in London had exposed him to the reality of robbery and murder on the streets.

The Tory leader said he had been burgled twice at his home in North Kensington in the past eight years and had had his car stolen.

Despite his brushes with crime, he insisted he didn't feel "particularly" nervous walking the streets.

"I don't want to get into this or else I'll sound like Jacqui Smith ", he said.

He added: "It's sort of all around you in London. I often see one of those yellow incident signs near where I live.

"A mugging, a robbery, a murder... in the years living in London, in the last 10 years, I've witnessed a mugging near where I live."

He also accused the police of losing a lot of the confidence of "hard working, law-abiding people".

He said one reason for this was "the target culture that has been imposed on police by Labour, which means that they tend to go after easy cases rather than difficult cases, and that means obviously demonising the middle classes to a certain extent and targeting people who are fundamentally law-abiding".

In contrast to former shadow home secretary David Davis, Mr Cameron said he was "a fan of CCTV", although he stressed he was opposed to ID cards.

His aim in government, Mr Cameron said, would be to heal Britain's "broken society". "I'm going to be as radical a social reformer as Mrs Thatcher was an economic reformer, and radical social reform is what this country needs right now," he said.

Mr Cameron also admitted that he cried at his wedding and said that he made a point of finding time in his political schedule for his wife, Samantha, and their children.

"Family rules  -  for two nights a week, I come home early enough to be with Sam; one I should be back for suppertime and the other I should be back to do bathtime with the children," he said.

On religion, he said he was a "pretty classic Church of England 'wracked with doubt and scepticism' believer".