Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise visit to Leamington on Friday 6 February along with local MP Chris White. Perhaps keeping the importance of ethnic votes in his mind, for the upcoming general elections, he also visited the Gurdwara Sahib Leamington and Warwick and met the members of the Sikh community, where he discussed a number of key issues. He met the committee members and volunteers and joined worshippers at the Gurdwara, which is one of the largest in the UK. He also spent time helping out in the kitchen - and staff said he was ‘very friendly’. Speaking after his visit, Prime Minister praised the British Sikh community for their contribution to society and welcomed the ongoing British-Indian relationship.
He said, “The British-Indian relationship is something very close to my heart. It was the first major country I visited as leader of the opposition, and I’ve made three trips to India as Prime Minister. I had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Modi when we met in Australia. I think all the elements are there - the trade relationship is good, India invest more into Britain than the rest of Europe combined, the links between our communities are very strong and I also think there’s a growing understanding that the rise of India in the world, Britain and India as the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy should be cooperating over vital international issues like climate change and supporting free trade. There’s a real opportunity for us to work together.”
Speaking about his visit, in a statement the Prime Minister told Asian Voice: “It has been a pleasure visiting Gurdwara Sahib Leamington and Warwick today – especially meeting the volunteers and members of the community. As with other British Asians, British Sikhs make an amazing contribution to our country: in business, in our military, in our communities, in our charities. We should celebrate that our country is a successful multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy. Of course we need to do more to promote opportunity but already today you can see people who in one or two generations can come here, build a future for themselves and end up at the top in politics, in business. We are an opportunity country - and we need to do even more to make that happen - but we should celebrate how far we’ve come.
