Cameron Turns Up the Passion on UK Election Trail
British Prime Minister David Cameron hit back Sunday at critics who claim his re-election campaign lacks passion, insisting he has the will to win a knife-edge poll on May 7.
A shirtsleeved Cameron joked that those looking for excitement should "go to Greece," which risks a default and possible exit from the euro, during an animated stump speech in southwest England.
"We don't always shout with the passion that some people would like but don't mistake that for any lack of drive in changing this great country of ours," added Cameron, gesticulating freely and often stopping to catch his breath.
With just 11 days until the election, his center-right Conservative party is at level pegging in opinion polls with the center-left Labor party led by Ed Miliband.
Experts say that, unless one party pulls ahead, Britain is set for a hung parliament, meaning that the Conservatives or Labor will have to team up with a smaller party to govern.
The campaigns of both main parties have been widely criticized as sterile and short of interactions between politicians and ordinary voters.
A leading Conservative donor told this week's Sunday Times that Cameron had shown a "curious lack of energy and belief."
But Cameron said during his speech that rhetoric "doesn't amount to a hill of beans" without action.
"If you want political theater, go to Hollywood. If you want political excitement, maybe you could go to Greece -- that's a very exciting country I'm told," he added.
The Conservatives, in power in a coalition government since 2010, are set to focus this week's campaigning on the economy, their main election theme.
Britain has a budget deficit of some £90 billion (124 billion euros, $130 billion) which has been halved since 2010 through deep cuts to public spending.
Cameron's party says they will eliminate the deficit by 2018-19 if the Conservatives win the election.
Source: Agence France Presse
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