Travelling to communist Russia inspired David Cameron to become involved in politics, the prime minister has revealed.
In an column for the Big Issue, the prime minister admits he was never “one of those people who mapped out their career on the back of an envelope” but says his trip to the Eastern bloc had a “massive impact” on him.
“I will never forget the greyness of life under Communism, the lack of choice, freedom and expression. I began to develop a political consciousness, a sense of what was right and wrong."
Cameron, who is guest editing this week’s issue of the magazine, also discusses failure, his family and what he would say to his younger self.
In one of the prime minister's most personal admissions yet, he says he would tell his 16 year old self that failure “makes you a stronger person.”
“For a lot of young people, the idea that you shouldn’t try at something because you might not succeed is pretty seductive. I was no exception. At school, there were some subjects, some sports, where I didn’t always put the effort in – but instead just went through the motions, drifting along, rather than giving it everything.”
Cameron also pays tribute to his “strong family” and reveals he was brought up in the shadow of his elder brother.
“If I could give my younger self some advice, I’d say: don’t worry about it; your life is not predetermined; you’ll find your own feet in your own way. It was not until I left school that I felt I was breaking out of my brother’s shadow and doing my own thing.”
In a question and answer session with the Big Issue’s founder John Bird, the prime minister also praises the big society, saying it is about the individual taking responsibility for society beyond obeying the law and paying their taxes:
"But why shouldn’t parents be allowed to set up new schools? Why shouldn’t we ask businesses to train people and get them ready for work? Why shouldn’t charities go and work in our prisons and get offenders off drugs and back on the straight and narrow? It seems crazy to me that we are locking so many creative people out of doing good in our society because of some dated ideology that says only the state has all the answers."