With doubts cast over the credibility of Lord Ashcroft’s unofficial biography of David Cameron following ‘piggate‘, his co-author Isabel Oakeshott appeared on Newsnight to defend ‘Call Me Dave’. Cameron’s official biographer Sir Anthony Seldon joined the former Sunday Times political editor in the studio where he raised concerns about the book:
‘Quite frankly, why are we here talking about stories that well might not be true, put up by a very rich man whose personal promotion prospects are of no interest to the nation. Why are we talking about this, and what possible relevance has it got to the Prime Minister and how he conducts office? And if there is relevance, if what he may or may not have done as a young man talks directly into how he acts as Prime Minister well I think that could be important.’
Oakeshott was then quizzed by both Seldon and Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis on why they had published the pig incident when they cannot be sure it is true:
IO: Well we’ve been very careful in the way we’ve worded our account, this is not myself and Lord Ashcroft making the allegations.
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