David Cameron had a difficult start to the week, as he awoke on Monday morning to the Daily Mail’s headline, “Revenge! Drugs, debauchery and the book that lays Dave bare”.
David Cameron
The provocative headline was accompanied by excerpts from "Call Me Dave", the unauthorised biography by billionaire entrepreneur Lord Ashcroft, once the Conservative Party's treasurer and biggest donor, and his co-author Isabel Oakeshott, former political editor of the Sunday Times.
Lord Ashcroft writes in his preface that the book "is not about settling scores", although it's true that the two fell out when Cameron denied Ashcroft a top job after becoming leader in 2010.
The revelations of "Call Me Dave", currently being serialised in the Daily Mail, include allegations of college era pot-smoking and wild parties. It was also claimed by an anonymous source that Cameron had been a member of a "debauched" Oxford University group known as the Piers Gaveston Society, famous for "bizarre rituals and sexual excess".
Furthermore, the book claims that, during his initiation ceremony, Mr Cameron "put a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig. The allegation that has caused widespread uproar online, with pork-related puns trending under the hashtags #piggate #Hameron and #Oink.
The prime minister's spokeswoman said she would not "dignify the book by offering any comment". "Call Me Dave", which claims to shed new light on David Cameron's journey from privileged student to prime minister, will be published next month.
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