Posh is so skinny I could put my arms right round her, says David Cameron

You don't get to be leader of the Conservative Party without showing a certain degree of perspicacity.

Yet David Cameron appears to be endlessly surprised that Victoria Beckham is, shall we say, a touch on the slim side.

Asked by a group of schoolchildren who was the most well known person he'd ever met, he instantly replied: "Victoria Beckham."



He added: "Do you know, I kissed her and she was so slim, I gave her a hug and put my arms around her and I could touch my own body still."

The 40 children and their teachers, who had been presenting petitions to Mr Cameron about the conflict in Sudan, laughed nervously at the anecdote.

And it seems that being introduced to the Spice Girl made quite an impression on the 41-year-old MP for Witney, as this is not the first time he has commented on her slender shape.

After he was invited to a party hosted by Mrs Beckham and her husband David in 2006, Mr Cameron told a think-tank: "She is very thin. I leant forward to kiss Victoria but there is so little of her I almost missed."

However, his long-awaited meeting with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – whom he presented with a lifetime achievement award last week – obviously didn't make such an impact.

A guest at the event on Friday, held in Mr Cameron's Oxfordshire constituency, said that most of the teachers had been expecting him to name Lady Thatcher as his most famous acquaintance.

"They were all quite surprised," the source said.



"A few people had read about him giving the award to Margaret Thatcher, and he's met loads of other people, like the Queen, Prince Charles and George W. Bush.

"I think he was trying to get down to their level, to tell them someone who would mean something to them. But it was a bit surprising, to say the least."

At the Morgan Stanley Great Briton Awards on Thursday, Mr Cameron had lavished praise on Lady Thatcher, describing her as "one of the greatest Prime Ministers of all time."

"She rescued our country from economic disaster," he said. "She rescued our people from despair."