DAVID CAMERON finally broke his silence on the Lebanon conflict by criticising Israel’s military offensive as disproportionate.

The Tory leader’s intervention, which carefully echoed the comments of William Hague, his foreign affairs spokesman, will fuel the internal revolt within his party. Last week Lord Kalms, a former Tory treasurer and prominent member of the Jewish community, accused Mr Hague of “mouthing the buzzwords of the ignorant armchair critic” by calling the campaign disproportionate.

Mr Cameron, in a BBC interview yesterday, said: “Elements of the Israeli response were disproportionate and I think the Prime Minister should have said that. I do not think it should be seen as an unfair criticism of Israel — it is just a statement of fact.”

The Prime Minister will fly to Barbados this week to join his family on his delayed holiday. Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, has already left for her caravan holiday in France with her husband, Leo.

Mrs Beckett, who will interrupt her holiday to return to a meeting in London, dismissed the “spiteful” criticism of her performance as Britain’s first woman Foreign Secretary. She was particularly angered by hostile briefings about the fact that her husband, an unpaid adviser who has worked with her in Parliament for more than 20 years, sits in on many of her meetings.

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