How David Cameron took part in dead pig initiation ceremony at Oxford | Daily Mail Online Share 20k shares Some months later, he repeated it a third time, providing a little more detail. The pig’s head, he claimed, had been resting on the lap of a Piers Gaveston society member while Cameron performed the act. The MP also gave us the dimensions of the alleged photograph, and provided the name of the individual who he claims has it in his keeping. The owner, however, has failed to respond to our approaches. Perhaps it is a case of mistaken identity. Yet it is an elaborate story for an otherwise credible figure to invent. Furthermore, there are a number of accounts of pigs’ heads at debauched parties in Cameron’s day. Bullingdon boy: David Cameron pictured (centre frame) as part of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford in 1988 The late Count Gottfried von Bismarck (left), an Oxford contemporary of Cameron’s, reportedly threw dinner parties featuring the heads of pigs.

Shocking claims of Cameron taking part in an initiation ceremony at a Piers Gaveston event, involving a dead pig, have emerged in a new unauthorised biography by Lord Ashcroft (right) The late Count Gottfried von Bismarck, an Oxford contemporary of Cameron’s, reportedly threw dinner parties featuring the heads of pigs. (He later became notorious after Olivia Channon, daughter of a Tory minister, died of a heroin overdose in his Christ Church bedroom.) Meanwhile, Cameron had joined yet another dubious society — the notorious Bullingdon Club — a riotous drinking club for a highly select band of the super-rich. The bespoke uniform, of navy tailcoats, mustard-coloured waistcoats and sky-blue bow ties, could run to thousands of pounds, putting membership beyond the reach of ordinary students. So how much significance should be attached to Cameron’s decision to join the Bullingdon Club? One Tory colleague thinks that the answer is ‘considerable’. The MP concerned was once asked to join the club himself, but attended just one gathering before walking out in disgust. ‘What it basically involved was getting drunk and standing on restaurant tables, shouting about “f***ing plebs”,’ he says.

‘It was all about despising poor people.’ For his part, James Delingpole admits he ‘rather wanted’ to be in the Bullingdon, which had a recruitment ritual of trashing the room of any prospective member. He says: ‘Looking back — a) I didn’t have enough money, and b) I wouldn’t have actually enjoyed the sort of things they did, because I’m not very good at drinking heinous quantities and behaving really, really badly. ‘It’s about mindless destruction, and conspicuous excess and the rather ugly side of upper-class life. It’s loathsome.’ The astonishing claims of Cameron's Oxford days have emerged in Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography Of David Cameron by Michael Ashcroft (pictured with the Prime Minister) and Isabel Oakeshott In Cameron’s defence, there’s no evidence that he damaged any property or hurt or offended others. Instead, his participation in club activities appears to have been relatively measured.

David Worth, an American postgraduate student who was in the club at the same time, recalls how his first outing involved taking a boat on the Thames to Cliveden House, the former stately home in Berkshire which was at the centre of the Profumo Scandal in the Sixties and is now a luxury hotel. ‘I remember David quoting Winston Churchill extensively by memory — Churchill was a bit of a lush, so they were quotes about drinking — and he was very funny, he said. ‘A few leaned over the side of the boat occasionally — if you’ve drunk two bottles of champagne in an hour, your stomach’s going to get queasy.’ London Mayor Boris Johnson says of the Bullingdon Club: ‘You wake up with that terrible hung-over sense of shame, accentuated by the feeling that you could have had much more fun if you’d just taken your girlfriend out to dinner. What was the bloody point?’ Cameron may well have come to the same conclusion. Despite his extra-curricular activities, he took his studies very seriously and was highly regarded by tutors.

Read more: David Cameron, a pig's head and a secret society at Oxford University – explained | Politics | The Guardian David Cameron David Cameron, a pig's head and a secret society at Oxford University – explained An unofficial biography alleges that British prime minister took part in bizarre ritual at the Piers Gaveston Society, reported to encourage ‘ostentatious decadence’ Picture depicting Piers Gaveston, the alleged lover of Edward II. The society that bears his name was formed at Oxford in 1977. Photograph: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images Monday 21 September 2015 09.29 EDT First published on Monday 21 September 2015 07.32 EDT This article is 1 year old What have we learned about David Cameron today? An unofficial biography of David Cameron written by the Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft contains a series of allegations . They include that the prime minister spent time in a drug-taking environment at university, that he took part in a bizarre dinner club initiation ritual, and another claim about Cameron’s knowledge of the peer’s offshore tax status.

One specific allegation is that, in the words of the Daily Mail, Cameron took part in an initiation ceremony in which he “put a private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth. It cites a source – a current MP – who claims to have seen photographic evidence. It allegedly took place at a notorious Oxford University drinking club, the Piers Gaveston Society. From #piggate to #Hameron: how Twitter reacted to David Cameron claims Read more Downing Street has declined to comment on the book but a Conservative source said No 10 did not recognise any of the allegations made on the front page of the Daily Mail. What is the Piers Gaveston Society? “Piers Gav” is highly exclusive, made up of a self-selecting group of 12 undergraduates. The men-only club, named after the alleged male lover of Edward II, king of England from 1307 to 1327, was founded in 1977 and carries the motto: “Fane non memini ne audisse unum alterum ita dilixisse.” It translates to: Truly, none remember hearing of a man enjoying another so much.

The Mail reports that the club encourages “excess, high camp [and] ostentatious decadence”. Piers Gaveston members are understood to be given obscure titles such as “Poker”, “Despenser” and “Catamite”, and they all follow the Sicilian code of Omertà – or maintaining silence about the club. In fact, it prides itself on being a clandestine organisation. What do people say about it? Valentine Guinness, one of the founders of the society, once told the journalist Toby Young that the appearance of Piers Gav and other similar societies in the 70s “was a conscious effort to say, look, you know, the country may be in a mess but we’re still going to have a good time”. And so they do. For its summer ball, members each invite 20 guests – preferably more women than men, who were last year given 72 hours’ notice, when they were told to turn up for a hired coach that would drive them to an undisclosed destination in the countryside. “Cross-dressing is as likely to feature as speed-laced jelly,” says the Telegraph of these parties.

“The rules are simple – there are none.” Cameron biography: Ashcroft makes new debauchery claims about student days Read more The journalist Danny Kemp went to the Piers Gaveston ball in summer 1995. He has a different take on the club. “I guess the first thing to say is that it really wasn’t very debauched,” he said. “I was invited by a friend of a friend who was in the Piers Gaveston Society. The most obvious thing is that it is meant to be raunchy fancy dress. This means a lot of people going in drag [myself included unfortunately], others in what back then looked like bondage-type gear. “Invitees were told to gather in a central Oxford location, where a coach picked everyone up and drove them to a location in a field on the outskirts of the city. There was a big marquee in the field, with what was again meant to look like louche decor, velvet, etc, and bowls of free punch to drink. I think they had some kind of burlesque-type dancing on a stage, but it was mainly just 90s house, techno and people dancing, in drag.

“I was expecting it to be a bit more interesting than it was. And, really, that was it. No pigs’ heads. The whole thing really seemed like not-terribly-debauched public schoolboys’ idea of debauchery.” The broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer went to Piers Gaveston parties in 1989-91. She said they were “just big, fairly wild parties. Lots of drink, lots of very rich posh kids getting wasted – probably lots of drugs [but not my thing so I wouldn’t know]. They were fun bashes – very hot and sweaty and very much about getting off with people.” Jules Evans, author of Philosophy for Life: And Other Dangerous Situations and policy director at Queen Mary’s Centre for History of Emotions, was a member of Piers Gaveston in 1997. He said it was not a secret society, rather just a club that organised a summer party. “They were pretty innocuous – basically a fancy dress rave. Not nearly as decadent as the media or the participants themselves liked to think. Didn’t stop the Sun sending a reporter and photographer and calling it an ‘orgy’,” he said.

What’s the difference between Piers Gaveston and the Bullingdon Club? The Bullingdon Club is the other drinking society Cameron was known to be a member of. Most of the sonorous members of the Bullingdon are old Etonians. The prime minister was one such member, as was the London mayor, Boris Johnson. They wore a bespoke uniform of tailcoats, waistcoats and bow ties, which could cost thousands of pounds, making membership difficult for ordinary students. One MP who was once asked to join the club said he walked out of a gathering in disgust. “What it basically involved was getting drunk and standing on restaurant tables, shouting about ‘f***ing plebs’. It was all about despising poor people,” he told the Daily Mail of the scene reminiscent of film The Riot Club, based on Laura Wade’s play Posh. There is no evidence that Cameron, Osborne or Johnson were involved in the excesses described by the MP. The Bullingdon is still banned from meeting within a 15-mile radius of Christ Church after members smashed 400 windows at the college in 1927.

When Evelyn Waugh published his novel Decline and Fall the following year, he probably did not expect Oxford’s secret drinking club the Bullingdon, or Bollinger as it is satirised in the book, to still be filling headlines in decades to come. For Waugh, the club consisted of “epileptic royalty from their villas of exile; uncouth peers from crumbling country seats; smooth young men of uncertain tastes from embassies and legations; illiterate lairds from wet granite hovels in the Highlands; ambitious young barristers and Conservative candidates torn from the London season and the indelicate advances of debutantes; all that was most sonorous of name and title”.

How the world media reacted to David Cameron 'dead pig and drugs' claims | The Independent How the world media reacted to David Cameron 'dead pig and drugs' claims Several major newspapers have not reported the sensational allegations Monday 21 September 2015 10:09 BST Click to follow The Independent Online David Cameron has been accused of being a member of another Oxford society apart from the Bullingdon Club AFP/Getty Claims that David Cameron performed an obscene act with a dead pig and smoked cannabis during his studies at Oxford University are spreading around the world. The extraordinary allegations were made in a new unauthorised biography of the Prime Minister written by Lord Ashcroft. The Conservative peer and donor claimed an anonymous MP had seen a photo of the alleged incident with the pig , during a Piers Gaveston Society event, although he had not seen any evidence himself. Lord Ashcroft said an unnamed Conservative MP told him about the pig allegations Downing Street was refusing to comment today as international media outlets picked up on the story, although it was noticeably absent from the websites of several major newspapers.

Read more Here are some of the reports: US New York Daily News British Prime Minister David Cameron put private part inside dead pig during college initiation, book claims "The authors do not entirely go whole hog, allowing for an error on the part of a Cameron classmate." Russia Russia Today #PigGate farce: Story of Cameron’s ‘private part’ in dead pig’s mouth resonates gloriously online "The #PigGate scandal, stemming from a startling claim that David Cameron put “a private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth at a student initiation ceremony at Oxford, has sparked an endless barrage of jokes and mockery online." The majority of global news outlets appear not to be reporting the claims Libération A scandal for David Cameron The newspaper said that the scandal over alleged drug-taking “doesn't break three legs to a duck“.

The French idiom translates roughly to: “It’s nothing to write home about.” Belgium La Libre Belgique “Drugs”, “dead pig”: For revenge on David Cameron, he wrote Call Me Dave "It is biography that feels resentment, seeing Lord Ashcroft charge David Cameron in the preface: “Long after he became prime minister, the impression persisted that he was more interested in holding the office than in using its power to achieve anything in particular.” French newspaper Liberation said the drug allegations were 'nothing to write home about' Sydney Morning Herald David Cameron engaged in obscene act with pig's head when a student, book claims "Social media users have barely been able to contain their delight at claims in a new biography that British Prime Minister David Cameron put 'a private part of his anatomy' into the mouth of a dead pig at an initiation ceremony while he was a student at Oxford University." Netherlands De Telegraaf Cameron embroiled in pig scandal "According to the Daily Mail the pig scandal is not too bad, because far worse things have happened at society dinners that Cameron was not involved with." More about: Piggate and the darker side to university initiations | The Mancunion Piggate and the darker side to university initiations Tweet Photo: Wikicom

mons An unofficial biography of David Cameron written by the former Conservative Party donor Lord Ashcroft made headlines this week after making some of the most bizarre allegations in recent political memory.

The book, to be published serially in the Daily Mail, not only claims the Prime Minister was aware of the peer’s offshore tax status before the 2010 general election, but also asserts that he was involved in drug taking and a somewhat unconventional initiation ceremony involving a dead pig during his time as a student at Oxford University. Co-written by award winning investigative journalist Isabel Oakeshott, the biography claims to have seen photographic evidence of the hog-related incident from its only source. Number 10 refused to comment but, inevitably, bemused journalists, politicians and commentators competed on Twitter and in papers to make the best pig-related puns. ‘Typical!”, Paddy Ashdown tweeted. “David Cameron once again hogging the headlines at the Lib Dem Conference.” Even the Russian embassy rose to the occasion, following @CameronPig—a spoof account which had amassed almost 20,000 followers by Tuesday morning. Of course, ceremonies like this are not exclusive to Oxbridge dining clubs. Students across the UK are familiar with initiation horror stories which are, although perhaps less disturbing, similarly humiliating and degrading.

In April 2014, The Independent reported at length how a student in the Midlands was made to eat fish heads and drink spirits from a pig’s heart during an initiation ceremony. Similarly, a Welsh university’s rugby team was reported to have forced their players to eat dog food and drink milk until they vomited into a bucket, the contents of which—after being urinated into—was then fed back to them. Even more shockingly, students at Welsh universities have been forced to eat tampons which had been inserted into their teammates’ anuses, according to a report from the Huffington Post earlier this year. Stories like this are disgusting, degrading, and numerous. It is also often the case, especially with male sports clubs, that such ceremonies are also sexist or homophobic. Last year, a leaflet distributed to freshers by the LSE Men’s Rugby Club described women who play sports as, among other things, “beast like,” and claimed that the club would “not tolerate any homosexual debauchery.” The incident received wide coverage and the club was disbanded.

Similarly, in November 2014, The Guardian reported the suspension of Oxford’s Pembroke Rugby Club following the distribution of an email entitled ‘Free Pussy’, which encouraged players to spike the drinks of female freshers during an initiation party. ‘Rape banter’ and pressure to engage in overtly misogynistic and predatory behaviour like this appears to have become integral to not only many initiation ceremonies at British universities, but the very functioning of some of our sports clubs and societies. With one in seven women having suffered sexual assault according to the NUS, and as many as 90 per cent of rapes going unreported according to Rape Crisis England & Wales, many believe the attitudes and ignorance such ceremonies reflect and encourage is simply unacceptable. Jess Lishak, University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer, said: “We take lad culture and sexual harassment very seriously and have a zero tolerance approach to any form of harassment, discrimination and bullying, whether that’s through initiation ceremonies or in everyday student life.

“With the ‘We Get It’ campaign, we have developed an online report and support tool, so that you can report such behaviour either anonymously or for further support.” If you are concerned or worried about any behaviour you’ve witnessed or experienced you can contact Jess at jess.lishak@manchester.ac.uk or speak to the confidential and independent Students’ Union Advice Service.

Pembroke College rugby players barred from playing in the first round of the season 28th September 2015 Opinion Editor Joe Evans takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how the BBC, the Culture Secretary and pigs are more linked than you might think at first 2nd October 2015 Manchester Debating Union concludes with an overwhelming majority that women are empowered by breaking the system, not succeeding within it 29th October 2015 In order to tackle racial bias, the British government backs plans by UCAS to implement 'name blind' university application forms 25th October 2015 Campaigners call on government to reform sex education, claiming current system leaves many unprepared 17th September 2015 With the Labour leadership contest drawn to a close, Grace Iona Annesley-Mair retrospectively discusses Yvette Cooper's billing as the 'feminist' candidate 20th February 2015 The Abbotts, a secret black tie drinking society, was accused of tearing down LGBT+ pride flags from the walls of Corpus Christi JCR, and their behaviour has been described as "unacceptable." 7th September 2015 Sajid J

avid MP has ordered a crackdown on sexist behaviour on campus which has been described as a "pandemic" 12th August 2015 The De Montfort University Vice-Chancellor has been criticised for not consulting students and ignoring the PM's voting record before making him a Companion of the university 11th April 2016 Hindustan Times British-Prime-Minister-David-Cameron-faced-heavy-criticism-for-saying-a-swarm-of-migrants-was-trying-to-come-to-Britain-during-a-visit-to-Vietnam-AFP-Photo British Prime Minister David Cameron had put a "private part of his anatomy" into a dead pig's mouth during a bizarre initiation ritual after joining a dining society as a student at the Oxford University, an unauthorized biography has claimed.

The shocking allegation features in Call Me Dave, co-written by parliament member Michael Ashcroft and journalist Isabel Oakeshott. Ashcroft and Oakeshott say that a source, who was an Oxford contemporary and is an MP now, made the claim that Cameron took part in the outrageous initiation ceremony first at a business dinner in June 2014. According to London's Daily Mail, the soon-to-be published book has said there are photographic evidence of Cameron carrying out the bizarre act while the pig's head rested on the lap of a member of the Piers Gaveston Society — a dining club at Oxford. Ashcroft and Oakeshott say the MP also gave the name of the individual who he claims has the photograph but has not responded to their queries. "Perhaps it is a case of mistaken identity. Yet it is an elaborate story for an otherwise credible figure to invent," they write. The book also claims Cameron, who studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford's Brasenose College between and 1985 and 1988, was part of a "dope smoking group" called the Flam Club at the university.

High-profile right-wing journalist James Delingpole, a friend of Cameron's at Oxford, said they smoked cannabis together while listening to the rock bands. "My drug of choice was weed [marijuana] — and I smoked weed with Dave because James' (a distinguished writer) drug of choice was also weed," Delingpole told the authors. They go on to say, quoting "one member of his social circle", that cocaine was in open circulation at a dinner party hosted by Camerons at his home. "This guest did not see either Cameron or his wife take the drug, but the fact those present felt comfortable snorting it under their roof suggests it was not an unfamiliar scene." The authors further say that Tom Baldwin, Ed Miliband's adviser who was known for his cocaine habit as a journalist, has privately told several sources that he had seen Cameron taking cocaine. The book also claims that Cameron had joined yet another dubious society — the notorious Bullingdon Club — a drinking club for a highly select band of the super-rich. Ashcroft, however, has said on his website he and Oakeshott did not have access to Cameron or his senior aides while they were writing the book.

Despite the lack of evidence, Twitter has gone into total meltdown over the claims and someone had even set up an account Cameron's Pig. Twitterati went into a frenzy with real as well Photoshopped pictures and porcine puns. Hashtags #Hameron #Oink and #piggate started trending on the social network minutes after the Daily Mail front page containing the allegations was revealed. Some even unearthed a 2013 article - David Cameron secures £45m pig semen deal between UK and China - to hammer the point. And what made the whole episode all the more bizarre is the claim's striking resemblance to a moment in an episode of Black Mirror — a fictional TV series by Charlie Brooker, in which a fictional prime minister has sex with a pig. Brooker was quick to to respond to comparisons made. Downing Street has not yet commented on the allegations. tags Cameron claims 'everyone can see through' allegations in Ashcroft book | The Japan Times SHARE U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron gave his first public reaction to a biography that contained lurid allegations about his past, saying everybody could understand why the book had been written.

The book, “Call Me Dave,” by former Conservative Party Deputy Chairman and Treasurer Michael Ashcroft and journalist Isabel Oakeshott, made headlines over the past week as it was serialized in the Daily Mail newspaper. The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that Ashcroft fell out with Cameron when he wasn’t given a Cabinet post after the 2010 election in return for millions of pounds of donations to the Tories. “Everyone can see why the book was written and I think everyone can see straight through it,” Cameron told reporters Sunday as he flew to New York for a visit to the United Nations. Asked about one allegation concerning a bizarre initiation ceremony involving a pig while a student at Oxford University, Cameron said that “as for the specific issue you raised, a very specific denial was made a week ago” by his spokeswoman. “I’ve nothing to add to that.” Ashcroft was cited by the Mail on Sunday as saying he had a “beef” with Cameron and the junior job he was offered at the Foreign Office was not a fair return for everything he had done for the party.

“After putting my neck on the line for nearly 10 years — both as party treasurer under William Hague and as deputy chairman — and after plowing some £8 million ($12 million) into the party, I regarded this as a declinable offer,” the newspaper quoted Ashcroft as saying. “It would have been better had Cameron offered me nothing at all.” Ashcroft denied that the book’s purpose was to “settle scores,” the Mail on Sunday said. David Cameron put 'private part' in dead pig's mouth, biography claims | Politics | News | Daily Express POLITICS David Cameron put 'private part' in dead pig's mouth, shock biography claims DAVID Cameron once put a "private part of his anatomy" into a dead pig's mouth during a bizarre initiation ritual, it has been claimed. 00:01, Mon, Sep 21, 2015 | UPDATED: 02:37, Mon, Feb 22, 2016 REX FILE PICTURE The shocking claims were made in a new biography, Call Me Dave The Prime Minister carried out the act as a student a Oxford University, according to a claim made in a new biography.

The story was recounted to the authors by a contemporary of Mr Cameron who went on to become an MP. He reportedly said the pig's head was resting on the lap of a member of the Piers Gaveston Society – a dining club at Oxford – while Cameron carried out the act. Related articles David Cameron vows to 'stamp out' shocking rise in anti-Semitic... He even claimed that another member of the notorious group has photographic evidence of the alleged act. But the individual who is said to own the picture did not respond to approaches by the authors. The shocking allegation features in Call Me Dave, a biography of Mr Cameron co-written by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft and the journalist Isabel Oakeshott. Mr Ashcroft said: "Perhaps it is a case of mistaken identity. Yet it is an elaborate story for an otherwise credible figure to invent. "Furthermore, there are a number of accounts of pigs' heads at debauched parties in Cameron's day." PA FILE PICTURE The alleged act echoes the first episode of the Black Mirror Lord Ashcroft has revealed his bitter rivalry with Mr Cameron was sparked after he was overlooked by a Cabinet position. He donated more than £8million to the Conservative Party, helping them secure two election victories.

But Mr Cameron only offered him a junior whip position in the Foreign Office, which was subsequently turned down. Today the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said: "I'm not going to dignify this book by offering a comment. The author has set out his reasons for writing this book. "The Prime Minister is focused on getting on with the job of running the country." The alleged act echoes the first episode of the drama series Black Mirror, in which the fictional Prime Minister has sex with a pig live on TV. REX The Prime Minister studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford My drug of choice was weed – and I smoked weed with Dave James Delingpole The book also claims he was part of a "dope smoking group" called the Flam Club at university, according to the Daily Mail. James Delingpole, a friend of Mr Cameron's at Oxford, said they smoked cannabis together while listening to the rock band Supertramp. He said: "My drug of choice was weed – and I smoked weed with Dave." Mr Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford's Brasenose College between and 1985 and 1988.

British Prime Ministers through the ages Wed, May 27, 2015 With a General Election coming up in May, we look back at some of the famous occupants of Number 10 through the ages Getty Images 1 of 53 Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) was and is a British icon. After a long career in journalism and politics he became Britain's talismanic war leader in 1940, where his stirring rhetoric and leadership would help the nation to overcome the Nazis. Defeated at the 1945 election, he returned to office in 1951. In 2002 he was named The Greatest Briton of all time by the public in a nation-wide survey [Getty Images] David Cameron stands down as MP Mon, September 12, 2016 David Cameron has served as Prime Minister since 2010 and leader of the Conservative Party since 2005. We take a look at his political career in pictures.

Getty Images 1 of 103 Prime Minister David Cameron with his wife Samantha leave 10 Downing Street for the last time after speaking to the press to visit Buckingham Palace to formally tender his resignation to the Queen on July 13, 2016 [Getty Images] Related articles Giant effigy of David Cameron holding dead pig's head burned for Guy Fawkes night | UK | News | Daily Express UK Giant effigy of nude David Cameron holding a DEAD PIG burned for bonfire night A GIANT effigy of a nude David Cameron holding a dead pig's head has been burned to celebrate bonfire night. 00:00, Thu, Nov 5, 2015 | UPDATED: 00:27, Fri, Nov 6, 2015 REX SHUTTERSTOCK The effigy refers to the infamous 'pig gate' accusation The massive 15ft puppet of the Prime Minister, donning nothing but Union Flag underwear while a fox climbs up his leg, will feature alongside a giant Sepp Blatter. The figure of the controversial Fifa boss will be seen sitting in a boat of money holding his middle finger up to onlookers in Lewes.

REX SHUTTERSTOCK Lewes is famous for annually burning puppets of politicians The event will even try to break a world record for the largest ever bonfire effigy with revellers planning to burn a huge 50ft Guy Fawkes. Lewes bonfire night celebrations are famous for featuring political figures, after a puppet of Alex Salmond was burned last year, enraging Scottish nationalists. Well there's a sight for sore eyes... A Blatter effigy makes its way through Lewes this morning #lewesbonfire pic.twitter.com/CboE1LyUTS — nathalie edell (@nathalieedell) November 5, 2015 Revellers also burned an effigy of Russian president Vladimir Putin wearing a mankini. The puppet of David Cameron refers to the notorious 'pig gate' scandal in which it was claimed that the Prime Minister once put a "private part of his anatomy" into a dead pig's mouth. REX SHUTTERSTOCK Cameron allegedly put a 'private part of his anatomy' inside a dead pig's mouth while at university Mr Cameron was forced to deny the incident - which allegedly happened during a bizarre initiation ceremony while he was a student at Oxford University.

The shocking allegation features in Call Me Dave, a biography of Mr Cameron co-written by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft and the journalist Isabel Oakeshott. REX SHUTTERSTOCK Lord Ashcroft and journalist Isabel Oakeshott made the accusation in the autobiography Call Me Dave There are a number of accounts of pigs' heads at debauched parties in Cameron's day Lord Ashcroft Mr Ashcroft said: "Perhaps it is a case of mistaken identity. Yet it is an elaborate story for an otherwise credible figure to invent. "Furthermore, there are a number of accounts of pigs' heads at debauched parties in Cameron's day." David Cameron ready for Lewes bonfire pic.twitter.com/BXiDS9ZpO6 Lurid claim about British PM Cameron′s student days hogs the headlines | News | DW.COM | 21.09.2015 News Lurid claim about British PM Cameron's student days hogs the headlines Britain has been reacting to published extracts from a biography of David Cameron, which included tales of drugs and drinking. The preview also carried details of a bizarre dining club initiation ritual, involving a pig.

Britain's "Daily Mail" newspaper published the extracts on Monday, with reactions on Twitter focusing on the allegation that Prime Minister David Cameron took part in a particularly outlandish dinner club initiation ceremony while a student at Oxford. The unauthorized biography, "Call Me Dave", was co-written by Michael Ashcroft, a former Cameron ally who turned against the prime minister. It includes a number of new, but unremarkable claims of his time at university; that the future prime minister enjoyed smoking marijuana while chatting with close friends and listening to Supertramp. However, one story - involving a dead pig - stood out from all the others. The extract quotes one of Cameron's university contemporaries - apparently now a member of parliament - as saying that the young Cameron had once "inserted a private part of his anatomy into the animal's mouth." Unwanted exposure The unnamed source, who said he had seen photographic evidence of the act, was said to have repeated the claim on several occasions. The deed was said to have been part of an initiation ceremony for Oxford's notorious Piers Gaveston dining society.

The Daily Mail, a traditional ally of the Conservative Party, featured the extract on its front page, touting the biography as "the book that lays Dave bare." Ashcroft appeared pleased with the coverage. The prime minister's Downing Street office said it would not "dignify" the claims, seeking to portray the book and its contents as a case of sour grapes. Ashcroft has admitted that he had a "beef" with Cameron after not being offered a senior cabinet job when the conservatives were elected as Britain's biggest party in 2010. Twitter erupts with jibes Twitter users reveled in pig puns about the alleged incident, including the "Sunday Times" deputy political editor, James Lyons. Photos and memes - featuring such popular porcine characters as Peppa Pig and Miss Piggy - were gleefully shared, while mass-circulation daily newspaper "The Sun" made use of a picture taken while Cameron visited a farm in his Oxfordshire consituency of Whitney. A club for the privileged few Cameron is long known to have been a member of another dubious society - the notorious Bullingdon Club - a waywardly boisterous drinking club for the Oxford University's super-rich young men.

The group's bespoke uniform - navy tailcoats, mustard waistcoats and sky-blue bow ties, would cost thousands of pounds, meaning that membership of the club was out-of-reach for ordinary students. Among the PM's Bullingdon Club contemporaries were British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Mayor of London Boris Johnson - both tipped as possible successors to Cameron at the head of the Conservative party. Members are reputed to have held dinners that revel in excessive drinking and mindless destruction, punctuated with disdainful tirades against the poor. The club's former members include British arch-imperialist Cecil Rhodes, abdicated English king and alleged Nazi-sympathizer Edward XVIII, and the father of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Date 21.09.2015 Permalink More content Cameron biography: Ashcroft makes new debauchery claims about student days | Politics | The Guardian Cameron biography: Ashcroft makes new debauchery claims about student days Conservative donor’s unofficial book includes allegation that prime minister knew about his controversial tax affairs Publication of Lord Ashcroft’s unauthorised biography of David Cameron is being seen as a sign of how far the two men have fallen out.

Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Andy Rain/EPA Rowena Mason in London and Tom Phillips in Beijing Monday 21 September 2015 06.38 EDT First published on Monday 21 September 2015 04.38 EDT Close This article is 1 year old An unofficial biography of David Cameron written by the former Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft has made a series of claims about his involvement in a drug-taking environment at university, a bizarre dinner club initiation ritual and his knowledge of the peer’s offshore tax status. The publication of extracts in the Daily Mail, two weeks before the Tories’ autumn conference, is a sign of how far Ashcroft has fallen out with the prime minister, who is said not to have followed through on a promise to give him a significant job after the 2010 general election. Ashcroft wrote that he had a personal “beef” with Cameron because he did not give him a role in the coalition, claiming Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, had blocked it. Cameron later reconsidered and offered Ashcroft a job as a junior whip in the Foreign Office.

Ashcroft wrote: “After putting my neck on the line for nearly 10 years – both as party treasurer under William Hague and as deputy chairman – and after ploughing some £8m into the party, I regarded this as a declinable offer. It would have been better had Cameron offered me nothing at all.” The book, co-written by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, also alleges that Cameron knew in 2009 that Ashcroft had non-dom status, meaning the donor legally did not pay UK tax on overseas earnings. When a row about this blew up in March 2010 , just before the election, the prime minister claimed only to have been aware about it for less than month. From #piggate to #Hameron: how Twitter reacted to Cameron claims Read more The biography also makes claims about the prime minister’s time at university, saying an MP had seen photographic evidence that Cameron put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s head as part of a dining club initiation ritual.

The MP told the authors Cameron attended a dining club called Piers Gaveston, known for its debauchery and named after the lover of Edward II, as well as being part of the Bullingdon drinking club, which was notorious for trashing rooms. Speaking to the biographers, one Tory MP said he had been asked to join the Bullingdon Club but walked out of the first event in disgust and considered it was all about “despising poor people”. The book does not provide any evidence of Cameron ever having been involved in any destruction at the Bullingdon Club, and the individual who is said to have a photograph of the incident with the pig has not provided any corroboration. A friend from university also said Cameron smoked cannabis with him occasionally while listening to Supertramp as part of a group called the Flam Club. James Delingpole, now a rightwing journalist, told the authors his room at Christ Church college, Oxford University, was where he took the drug with Cameron and another friend. “My drug of choice was weed, and I smoked weed with Dave,” he reportedly said.

On Sunday, he tweeted: Downing Street declined to comment on the book but a Conservative source said No 10 did not recognise any of the allegations made on the front page of the Daily Mail. Ashcroft gave millions to the Conservatives before the 2010 election. Relations deteriorated after he was not offered a big job while the Conservatives were infuriated when Ashcroft published his detailed constituency polling in the run-up to 2015, arguing it helped other parties. The billionaire peer has now resigned from the House of Lords.

Question: In a 2015 biography, who was accused of a bizarre initiation ceremony while a student Oxford University?
Answer: David Cameron