CONSERVATIVE Party leader David Cameron tonight revealed he considered quitting politics after the death of his son Ivan.

In an emotional ITV interview, Mr Cameron, who is seeking re-election in the Witney consituency and trying to lead his party to General Election victory, talked about the loss of his disabled son last year and the joy the six-year-old had brought to the Cameron family during his short life.

Asked if he had thought about stepping down from politics after Ivan’s death he said: “Yeah, to start with I thought ‘To hell with everything’.

“You do, it’s just such a shock you can’t really come to terms with it to start with but, bit by bit you start to think ‘well, I need to get on with my life’. And to me my life is politics, it’s public service, it’s what I do, it’s being a Member of Parliament, it’s wanting to make a difference. That’s what I want to do.”

Ivan, who suffered from severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy and received care at Oxford’s Helen & Douglas House hospice, died in February last year. Speaking on ITV 1’s Tonight programme, Mr Cameron said:“The loss is very tough and it takes a very long time to even start to get over it.

“It’s a sort of journey between understanding what you’re missing, what you’ve lost and being grateful for what you had. It just takes a very long time.”

Mr Cameron said family was the most important thing in his life by a “long way” and Ivan had brought them a huge amount of joy.

He added: “Suddenly discovering, as we did quite quickly, that all is not right and that he was going to have a very tough life and was going to be very disabled was, you know, a terrible shock and takes you some time to get over.

“But after a while you do realise that it is a great gift and that this person is bringing great joy and happiness to your family.

“So, you know, we were becoming quite good parents, because we had him for six amazing years and we learned a lot about all the things you need to do to look after a disabled child.”

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha have two other children and are expecting their fourth child in September.