YOUTHFUL DEBAUCHERY COMES BACK TO HAUNT DAVID CAMERON IN THE MOST EXPLOSIVE POLITICAL BOOK OF THE DE

David Cameron

Former Conservative party treasurer Lord Ashcroft has published a biography of David Cameron packed with lurid allegations directed at the Prime Minister. "Call Me Dave," serialised in the Daily Mail, tells of drugs, wild partying and excess during the Prime Minister's university days.

Lord Ashcroft

Mr Cameron has already confessed to being "desperately embarrassed" about his membership of the hard-drinking Bullingdon Club, and the latest stories of excess are adding fuel to fire. The paper describes the book, which Lord Ashcroft wrote with the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, as the Conservative peer's "revenge"- after being denied a job in government.

He tells how Mr Cameron personally assured him that he would get a "not insignificant" job in government when the Conservatives took office along with the Liberal Democrats. The Prime Minister later told him Nick Clegg vetoed the appointment, though Lord Ashcroft notes that the former Deputy Prime Minister's office disputes this.

Further extracts from the book are going to be published during the course of the week,significant talks are sure to arise as a result. Downing Street has refused to comment on the allegations.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who is at his party's conference in Bournemouth, told Sky News the claims were "extraordinary claims" but dismissed them as "a bit of a sideshow". He proceeded to add, "The reality is we respect people's right to a private life and a past. The critical thing in all of this is that those of us who are in politics mustn't be hypocrites."