Piggate

David Cameron (left) and an example of a pig (right)

"Piggate" refers to a claim that, during his university years, the former British prime minister David Cameron inserted his penis and/or scrotum into a dead pig's mouth as part of an initiation ceremony for the Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford University.

The anecdote was reported by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott in their unauthorised biography of Cameron, Call Me Dave, attributing the story to an anonymous Member of Parliament who was allegedly a contemporary of Cameron's at the University of Oxford. Extracts from the book were published in the Daily Mail on 20 September 2015, prior to its publication.

Downing Street sources responded by saying that Cameron, who was prime minister at the time, would not dignify the anecdote with a response, while friends reported him saying that it was "utter nonsense". Cameron said later that "a very specific denial was made a week ago".

Michael Ashcroft

Ashcroft and Oakeshott failed to receive a response from the purported owner of a photograph of the alleged incident. No corroborating evidence has been produced to support the anecdote.

In an interview, Valentine Guinness, one of the Piers Gaveston Society founders, said that as far as he knew, Cameron "may well have attended one of their parties" but was never a member.