Businessman Neal Forde, 51, says Conservative leader got details about him wrong while discussing immigration in televised election debate

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

The "40-year-old black man" famously referred to by David Cameron in this week's televised election debate has hit out at the conservative leader for getting the story wrong.

Neal Forde was quoted by Cameron as being ashamed of Britain's "out-of-control" immigration system, but the Tory leader got the 51-year-old businessman's age wrong by 11 years.

He also told the audience of 9 million viewers that Forde had served in the Royal Navy for 30 years, when in fact he served for six.

Cameron referred to Forde, who runs a business supplying kitchen worktops, while speaking about immigration during the ITV debate on Thursday.

The Conservative leader said: "I was in Plymouth recently and a 40-year-old black man ... said, 'I came here when I was six, I've served in the Royal Navy for 30 years, I'm incredibly proud of my country. But I'm so ashamed that we've had this out-of-control system with people abusing it so badly'."

But Forde said the Conservatives did not have the answers to Britain's problems on immigration and, like Labour, had "forgotten the British people".

He said he had been teased by his friends and colleagues because of the inaccuracies in Cameron's anecdote.

"He said I spent 30 years in the navy when I was actually in for six years as a marine engineer," said Forde. "But at least he took 11 years off my age."

Forde, who has not yet decided who to vote for, was involved in the Icelandic "cod wars" in the late 1970s and left the service in 1980.

He said: "Britain needs immigrants. It's a rich and diverse country with a heritage to be proud of, but what I find unacceptable is that the politicians seem to care more about everybody else and forget the British people.

"What I want the politicians to tell me is what they are going to do to safeguard the British people from the immigrants who come here and commit serious crimes."