TORY leader David Cameron received a less than friendly welcome when he visited Bromley town centre on Monday ahead of a by-election at the end of the month.

He was accosted by a woman who accused his party and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of ruining the country.

The bewildered Tory leader tried to persuade her that Labour policies were to blame before heading up the High Street, where he was challenged by the secretary of the Bromley British Pensioners Trade Union Action Association.

Joyce Earl, 75, said: "I asked Mr Cameron to sign our petition to stop privatisation of the NHS to which he declined.

"I am very unhappy with the answers he gave and my organisation finds it totally unacceptable that he agrees with a system that is totally unjust."

Mr Cameron was pounding the pavement alongside Conservative candidate Bob Neill, the London Assembly member for Bexley and Bromley.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Menzies Campbell hotfooted it down to Bromley College on the same morning in support of his party’s candidate, Ben Abbotts.

The by-election follows the sudden death of Eric Forth, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, from cancer, last month. It takes place on Thursday, June 29.

The candidates are:

Ben Abbotts (Lib Dem)
Nigel Farage (UKIP)
Ann Garrett (Green)
John Hemming-Clark (Independent)
Bob Neill (Conservative)
Rachel Reeves (Labour)

* See this week's Bromley Extra for a full report.