PM's wife warned her children to expect mockery over '˜piggate'

Comedian Jason Manford said the Prime Minister’s wife opened up on how she dealt with the claims when they were filming a celebrity edition of Great British Sport Relief Bake Off.

The show was filmed about a week after the publication of Call Me Dave, by Lord Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, which included unsubstantiated claims that Mr Cameron took part as a student in a bizarre initiation rite involving a pig’s head.

Mr Cameron later said that “a very specific denial” had been issued about the claim and that most readers would be able to “see through” the motives of former Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, who admitted he decided to write the book after not being offered a senior government job.

Speaking on his Absolute Radio show, Manford said: “I must say, you probably can guess from my accent that I didn’t vote for her husband, but I’m surprised they don’t roll her out more. “She’s just lovely, dead nice, dead chatty. I thought ‘She’s really nice’.”

He added regarding the rumours: “I think at the time for the family it was ‘What a ridiculous thing - that’s not even a thing’. I guess it was quite humorous, I think, until it went crazy.

“I said ‘Has it been all right at home, and stuff.’ And she said ‘Yeah, you know, I just said to the kids Monday morning ‘You might get a few oink oink noises at school but just try not to fight with anybody’.”

:: The first of the four-part Great Sport Relief Bake Off series airs on BBC1 on Wednesday.