Yob swears at Cameron as he tackles teenage life

David Cameron received a volley of abuse today as he set out plans for a national volunteering scheme for young people.

The Tory leader was called a "bastard" by a teenage heckler during a visit to a youth centre in Brixton, London.

The Tory leader was publicising the Young Adult Trust — a programme for school leavers similar to a non-military version of National Service.

But his visit to the Fairbridge Youth Centre was disrupted by the male teenager who shouted: "You do not know your arse from your elbow, you bastard."

Mr Cameron laughed and said: "That's going to be a tough call." The youngster was guided away by staff at the centre. Suenaila Akhtar, 20, who has been using the youth centre for six months, said: "David Cameron is a very direct person who gets to the point very quickly. He is quite an all right man."

Mr Cameron later used a speech to draw attention to what he called the "walk-on-by society".

Bemoaning the lack of respect among some young people, he cited the example of what happens if you complain about someone dropping litter in the street.

"You get an earful. They seem genuinely outraged that their behaviour could be questioned by a mere fellow member of the public — as if one slave had just told another what to do.

"What's it got to do with you?", they say — usually with the Fword thrown in for good measure," he said.

He added: "We simply cannot continue to allow young people to grow up with so little knowledge of, and respect for, the values of citizenship."

The Young Adult Trust, which last week held its first session with a group of teenagers from Croydon and Warrington, is being hailed by party officials as the first tangible success of his leadership.

"Today's Conservative Party is not just about talking, it is about doing," said Mr Cameron. "We don't want to wait until we're in government to start changing our country for the better, we are starting now. I want to do something practical and tangible about the fact that in many of our towns and cities, whole communities seem to be living separate lives."

Mr Cameron also launched a review of the ages at which teenagers can smoke, vote, get married and drink, calling the current legislation muddled.