David Cameron: Lord Ashcroft makes debauchery claims in book

The allegations about the prime minister’s student days surfaced in an unofficial biography written by Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative peer and former deputy chairman of the Conservative party who fell out with Mr Cameron when he was not handed a senior government role in 2010.

Lord Ashcroft’s book, Call Me Dave, is being serialised in the Daily Mail newspaper just two weeks before Conservative conference.

Sources close to the prime minister said they “did not recognise” the accusations, which include claims Mr Cameron was present at events where drugs were taken and was part of a decadent Oxford University dining society.

The newspaper also reports that the book challenges Mr Cameron’s account of his knowledge of when he was made aware of Lord Ashcroft’s “non-dom” tax status which allowed the peer to avoid tax on overseas earnings.

The book contradicts the Conservative claim that Mr Cameron had only known about the status for a month when it became public knowledge in 2010, and instead asserts that Lord Ashcroft first spoke to him about the issue in 2009.

In the book, due to be published next month, Lord Ashcroft acknowledges he has a personal “beef” with the Prime Minister after his failure to offer him a significant job in his administration following the formation of the coalition government.

He claimed the PM initially blamed Liberal Democrat coalition partners for blocking his appointment, before offering him a junior role at the Foreign Office which he described as “declinable”, adding: “It would have been better had Cameron offered me nothing at all.”

Lord Ashcroft, who has given £8m to the party played a central role in sorting out Conservative finances after the disastrous 1997 loss.

Downing Street has declined to comment on the contents of the book, which are likely to cast a shadow over the Conservatives’ upcoming annual conference in Manchester.

“I am not intending to dignify this book by offering any comment,” the prime minister’s official spokeswoman said. “He (Lord Ashcroft) has set out his reasons for writing it. The prime minister is focused on getting on with the job of running the country.”

Sources close to the prime minister said they “did not recognise” the accusations, which include claims Mr Cameron was present at events where drugs were taken and was part of a decadent Oxford University dining society.

Lord Ashcroft said that he was told about the incident by an Oxford contemporary of Mr Cameron who is now an MP and who claimed to have seen a photograph of the event.

Asked about Lord Ashcroft’s allegations at a press conference during his visit to China, Chancellor George Osborne said only: “I haven’t seen that book.”