PM breaks silence on pig claims

HE has endured a week of very public speculation over lurid claims about an incident with a dead pig’s head.

But last night for the first time David Cameron directly addressed the specific allegation that was made in Lord Ashcroft’s biography.

The Prime Minister also took another verbal swipe at the former Tory party donor, saying the public could ‘see straight through’ his reasons for writing the book.

His comments came amid widespread speculation about the identity of the Tory MP who made the claim in the book, titled Call Me Dave by Lord Ashcroft and journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

Allies of the Prime Minister are said to have launched a hunt for the source. The book, which was serialised by the Mail last week, included the suggestion that the Prime Minister had ‘inserted a private part of his anatomy’ into a dead pig’s mouth during an initiation ceremony for an Oxford University society, the Piers Gaveston.

Last week friends of the Prime Minister were quoted as saying the story was ‘completely untrue’. They also pointed to the book’s preface in which Lord Ashcroft makes clear his unhappiness over being passed over for a job after the 2010 election despite a promise from Mr Cameron.

Speaking to reporters as he flew to New York for the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister said: ‘I think everybody, everyone can see why the book was written and I think everyone can see straight through it.

‘As for the specific issue raised, you know a very specific denial was made a week ago, and I’ve nothing to add to that.’

Since the claim was first published, speculation has swirled around Westminster as to who the source could be.

Clues in the book described it as a senior Tory MP, and ‘distinguished Oxford contemporary’ of Mr Cameron.

Several Sunday newspapers pointed the finger at Tory vice-chairman and MP Mark Field. He told the Sunday Times he ‘categorically denies’ the allegation and insisted he would sue those identifying him as the source.