A SWINDON man has voiced his anger over an email from the Prime Minister which wished him a happy summer – after his stepdaughter was denied permission to visit Britain.

Plumber Peter Murray had wanted to bring his 17-year-old Thai stepdaughter to the UK for a holiday to reward her for finishing her schooling, but the visa application was turned down.

He then wrote an irate letter to the Prime Minister demanding for a change in a system he sees as fundamentally flawed.

Then a few weeks later he got a pro forma email in David Cameron’s name, which mentioned the hacking scandal, the NHS reforms, the war in Libya – but nothing on the problems he had written about.

It then ended by wishing Mr Murray and family “a relaxing summer”.

But Mr Murray, whose wife Joy, 41, has now gone back to Thailand to be with daughter Milk Khaenti, said his summer was going to be anything but relaxing as a result, and dismissed the letter as “arrogant and insensitive”.

The 54-year-old, of Haydon Street, said: “He sends me a block email that he sends to everyone, wishing me and my family a relaxing holiday after he’s let us down. It’s taking the mick.

“I want to be with my wife, she wants to be with me.

“I wonder how David Cameron would feel if he couldn’t take his daughters on holiday to Italy. I don’t think he’d be very happy.

“He must be aware of the letter I sent to him. That upset me. I just think they should have been a bit more sensitive.”

Mr Murray, who married his wife three years ago in Thailand after meeting her there on holiday, said he is also annoyed because new rules on immigration mean his wife will have to pass a “life in the UK” test in order to have her visa extended next year.

He said: “If you have a look at the questions on there, it’s things like: who is the chief whip? I don’t even know the answer to that, so how they possibly think any foreign national would be in a posisition to answer them.

“As a matter of fact, I couldn’t answer half of the questions.”

But Downing Street said that the matter appeared to be an unfortunate coincidence.

A spokeswoman said that No.10 had no record of receiving the letter from Mr Murray, and that the email from the Prime Minister was sent from the Conservative party headquarters rather than from the office of No.10, and was unrelated to his correspondence.

“It had nothing to do with his letter,” she said.

“It’s just unfortunate timing that gives the impression it would have.”