A crackling yarn: As 'piggate' dominates Twitter, No 10 says David Cameron will not 'dignify' lewd claim
Book claims the prime minister put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s head as part of a university initiation ritual
Downing Street has refused to comment on the allegations of debauchery by David Cameron in his university days levelled by his former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, saying they “would not dignify” the claims.
At a regular weekly press briefing, the prime minister’s official spokesman repeatedly said she would not comment on Ashcroft’s book, serialised in the Daily Mail, adding that Ashcroft had himself set out his reasons for writing the book – a reference to No 10’s belief that the book was fuelled by a desire for personal revenge.
Downing Street also refused to say if Cameron intended to sue Ashcroft for libel, or to discuss allegations that the prime minister knew about his non-dom tax status prior to the 2010 election, something Cameron has previously denied.
Ashcroft’s unofficial biography of Cameron has made a series of claims about his involvement in a drug-taking environment at university and his knowledge of the peer’s offshore tax status.
But the claim that set social media alight – #piggate trended on Twitter for most of Monday – came from an MP, who said he had seen photographic evidence that Cameron inserted a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s head as part of a university dining club initiation ritual.
