Holidaying Cameron ‘still in charge’

The Prime Minister and wife Samantha soaked up the sun in Ibiza yesterday after jetting out to the island on Saturday.

Mr Cameron has been accompanied by a small team of key staff and is being kept up to date over developments in the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Amid suggestions he should have remained in the country, Mr Cameron won support from an unlikely source.

Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries, a well-known critic of her party’s leader, said it was ridiculous to criticise him for having a few days away.

She told Murnaghan on Sky News: “We have got the internet, we’ve got mobile phones.

“I think Cameron could actually get back from Ibiza to London quicker than if he was in Cornwall.

“I think he is entitled to a holiday, he’s entitled to be with his family. I actually want the Prime Minister to be refreshed, feeling happy because he’s had holiday time with his kids and his wife and come back and be a refreshed Prime Minister.”

Looking relaxed and casual, the couple sipped coffee against a picturesque beachside backdrop.

A No10 spokesman said: “The PM is on holiday with his family for the week. As always, whilst away, he remains in charge, and has office support with him.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been warned he has 12 months to prove his leadership.

Next year’s European parliament elections could prove a “flashpoint” if Ukip splits the Conservative vote, according to MP David Ruffley.

The former Tory whip said MPs in marginal seats would be unsettled if the Prime Minister had failed to turn around the party’s fortunes at the ballot box.

He told Murnaghan on Sky News: “I think next May’s euro elections might put pressure on him to go harder because there is a lot of speculation in and around Downing Street, so I am led to believe, that Ukip might come first.

“Now if that happens next May there’ll be 12 months before the election and some of our colleagues in marginal seats might get a bit windy.”