PRIME Minister and Witney MP David Cameron visited Black Bourton yesterday to raise awareness about war graves in the UK.

As part of First World War commemorations, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has mapped more than 300,000 graves across the UK that it is responsible for and is encouraging MPs to visit those in their constituencies.

Mr Cameron was joined by CWGC director general Victoria Wallace at St Mary’s Church, in Black Bourton, to view graves there.

Ms Wallace said: “We were delighted the Prime Minister has got involved with our efforts. He was very interested to find these war graves in his constituency.”

The commission wants to take on responsibility for the graves presently maintained by the Ministry of Defence.

Ms Wallace said: “The challenge is in some areas no-one looks after the MoD graves. We hope the Prime Minister can talk to the Chancellor [George Osborne] about helping the MoD find better ways of looking after the graves of servicemen.”

Richard Betteridge, churchwarden at St Mary’s, added: “People whose relatives are buried here can get quite emotional sometimes about the state of some graves, so we are really pleased the commission has highlighted the issue to the PM.”

There are 31 graves maintained by the commission at Black Bourton, where one of the buried soldiers was also born.

Private Francis Parker, of the 1st Battalion Berkshire Yeomanry, died aged 19 after being wounded during the Gallipoli campaign.

The commission looks after graves at Headington, Osney, Rose Hill, Oxford Crematorium and Botley, which has the largest number – 671.