During the case, Hamilton said he saw himself as being "the Mike Yarwood of the Federation of Conservative Students" and that he frequently did impressions of public figures such as Frankie Howerd, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Charles De Gaulle and Enoch Powell. Hamilton said he had coloured himself black in 1982 to look like Idi Amin and dressed as Canon James Owen on a boat on the River Cam. He said he would have twenty character witnesses: "My main character witness was going to be Norman St John Stevas." In a "Sunday Times" article, Hamilton denied there was any malicious intent behind the salute. He also pointed out that one person present at the incident, Julian Lewis, was a Jew and that a "number of his relatives were killed by the Nazis during the war".