The Guardian has apologised for publishing an editorial which suggested David Cameron’s grief when his son died was “privileged pain” because of his upbringing.
The article was written in response to the publishing of the former PM’s memoirs in which he praises the NHS for taking care of Ivan who died at the age of six in 2009.
It read: “Mr Cameron has known pain and failure in his life but it has always been limited failure and privileged pain.
“Even his experience of the NHS, which looked after his severely disabled son, has been that of the better functioning and better funded parts of the system.”
The piece prompted a backlash on social media. Comic and actor Jenny Eclair described the piece as “vile beyond vile” and Tory MP Zac Goldsmith said it was “stomach churningly revolting”.
The offending remarks were removed from the piece and a correction now reads: “The original version of this editorial posted online fell far short of our standards. It has now been amended, and we apologise completely.”
Ivan, Samantha and David’s first child, was born with a severe form of epilepsy and cerebral palsy and died shortly before his seventh birthday.
In 2017, Samantha revealed how his death “overshadows everything”.
The fashion entrepreneur said his premature death in 2009, the year before her husband entered No 10, was of such magnitude that it made everything else “irrelevant” and “meaningless”.
In an emotional interview for The Times she described how they had to cope with regular “life or death situations” throughout the youngster’s life, yet it came as a “huge shock”.
In an extract of his memoirs published in the Sunday Times, Cameron writes about taking Ivan to hospital shortly after he was born, saying: “When you watch your tiny baby undergoing multiple blood tests, your heart aches.
“When they bend him back into the foetal position to remove fluid from the base of his spine with a long, threatening-looking needle, it almost breaks.”