Parents should introduce their children to alcohol at home, says David Cameron

The Tory leader said his friends with the biggest alcohol problems were those who were 'never allowed to drink anything at home'.

Those who had been allowed small amounts to drink at mealtimes were now the most responsible drinkers, he said.

His stance is at odds with that of the Government, which is planning to set a new age limit telling parents when it is acceptable to give their children alcohol at home.

Dinner politics: The Tory leader believes parents should introduce their children to alcohol at home to stop them from binge drinking when they are older

Currently, the law allows parents to give any child over the age of five alcohol in a private setting.

But experts expect Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson to recommend an advisory age limit of 12 or more at which children can be offered their first taste of alcohol.

Responsible drinking: David Cameron

Breaking off from his holiday in Cornwall to speak to a group of young listeners of Radio 1's Newsbeat programme, Mr Cameron said: 'Some of the friends I had, the ones who had the biggest problems, were the ones who actually were never allowed to drink anything at home - whereas the ones who drink responsibly were the ones who were given a glass of wine or a small glass of beer or a shandy or something.

'That's the right way to do it - in the home.'

sked when he first got drunk, Mr Cameron said: 'I can't remember but yes, when I was a teenager, I did do some things I shouldn't have done - we all do.'

The Tory leader said children should be introduced to the idea 'that drinking is something you can do socially, and something you can do with a meal, and something that is part of life'.

Mr Cameron was responding to a question from 14-year-old Laura Barritt from Bangor, north Wales, who claimed underage drinking was widespread and asked whether the Conservatives would consider creating public areas for teenagers to drink.

He replied: 'When you're a teenager and you go to parties normally there are adults there, so that is fine. I think the idea of saying that we need to create some kind of public space where that happens, I think that's quite different.'

Mr Cameron says a Tory government would focus simply better education and proper enforcement of existing laws to ensure that alcohol is not sold to under-18s.

He has also pledged to increase taxes on 'alcopops' favoured by younger drinkers and use the money raised to slash duties on lower-strength drinks.

In yesterday's interview, the Tory leader also defended his choice of wearing floral shorts while playing Frisbee on the beach in Cornwall.

He told the youngsters: 'I think my wife bought them, I think they're quite nice. They're Boden, that catalogue company.

She said you need some shorts and she takes the major decisions, of course. They're all right aren't they? What, a bit flowery? I've had them for years.'

Another listener asked whether he was smug about Gordon Brown's recent battering in the polls.

Mr Cameron said: 'I hope I'm not smug because I've said I don't want us to win just because Labour are failing, I want us to win because we deserve to.

'And I don't think we would deserve to win unless we can convince people... that we've got better ideas.

'I think Gordon Brown has probably helped me by making bad decisions and that's good for me but I want people to think when they go to the polls:"Right, David Cameron, I know what he thinks about schools, about welfare, about the NHS..."

'I've still got a lot of work to do to convince people that I'm the right person.'