LONDON -- The last thing people in Britain expected to wake to Monday morning were headlines claiming their prime minister had once upon a time carried out obscene acts with a dead pig.
In fact, some might have thought the #hameron hashtag trending on Twitter was a reference to Jon Hamm winning an Emmy, not an alleged debauched act from David Cameron's student days. But alas, that's not what happened.
What is PigGate?
A new unauthorised book about Cameron Call Me Dave puts forward a number of allegations about the prime minister with one very shocking claim that, for obvious reasons, has grabbed everyone's attention: Cameron once put his penis in a dead pig's mouth.
Co-written by Lord Michael Ashcroft and journalist Isabel Oakeshott, the book alleges that Cameron put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s head as part of an initiation ritual into an elite, controversial club at Oxford University called Piers Gaveston.
Pics or it didn't happen! Is there any truth to the report?
The authors say they've heard the story from three different sources, according to the Daily Mail extract. Also, someone out there reportedly has a photo of the alleged act, but that person (strangely) didn't respond to the authors' "approaches."
Ashcroft and Oakeshott also say the whole thing could actually turn out to be a case of mistaken identity.
What or who is Piers Gaveston?
It's a secretive members-only club named after Piers Gaveston, the first Earl of Cornwall who historians speculate was Edward II's lover.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the club is renowned for its "debauched parties in secret locations," where each member is allowed to bring 20 people -- with an emphasis on more women than men.
"It's part bacchanal, part orgy and the rules are simple: There are none," the paper concludes in a 2003 guide to the university's secret societies.
How have people reacted to PigGate?
With puns. So many puns.
They should obviously call this scandal 'Bae of Pigs'— Seán (@glittercrisis) September 20, 2015
No, I didn't call her Babe No, I didn't need oinkment No, she wouldn't leave me aloin No, I've never made a rasher decision #piggate— David Cameron (@DavidChameron) September 21, 2015
It's his wife I feel sorry for. As well as the embarrassment, TWO possible puns in one name? Poor Hamantha Hameron. #Piggate— Dean Burnett (@garwboy) September 21, 2015
"Don't go bacon my heart" "I couldn't if I fried" #PigGate pic.twitter.com/CKiPEDhVqG— British Logic (@BritishLogic) September 21, 2015
Samantha got suspicious when this popped up in Dave's browser history #piggate pic.twitter.com/EV9XamtZsT— L.A.D (@LADFLEG) September 21, 2015
Other politicians couldn't avert their gaze
The Greens and the Lib Dems among others chimed in.
I have been writing my #gpconf speech tonight. I have not been distracted. At all.— Natalie Bennett (@natalieben) September 20, 2015
Typical! David Cameron once again hogging the headlines at the Lib Dem Conference.— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) September 21, 2015
I've never been more pleased to be a vegetarian.— Tim Farron (@timfarron) September 20, 2015
Who is Lord Ashcroft?
He's one of the richest men in the UK and has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative Party.
Made a peer by the former leader of the Conservatives William Hague, Ashcroft has said he has a personal "beef" with the prime minister because he was passed over for a job in the previous government after the Conservatives were elected in 2010.
His most potentially damaging allegation is a claim that Cameron knew in 2009 that Belize-based Ashcroft was registered as "non-domiciled" in Britain and did not pay UK tax on his foreign earnings. Ashcroft's tax status embarrassed the Conservatives when it was revealed in 2010, but Cameron claimed he had not previously been aware of it.
What has David Cameron said about 'PigGate'?
Nothing. Downing Street is not commenting on any of the claims made in the book. The authors had no access to the prime minister while writing the unauthorised biography.
In the past, Cameron has often tried to downplay his privileged upbringing. He attended Eton College, the country's most famous private school, before he went to Oxford.
It sounds a lot like that episode of Black Mirror. Is there any connection?
In the first episode in Season 1 of Black Mirror, the prime minister must have sex with a pig in order to save the life of one of the princesses who has been kidnapped.
Paying the ransom, the fictional prime minister Michael Callow goes through with the obscene act. After the PigGate revelations, many people on Twitter speculated that Charlie Brooker, the show's writer, had heard the Cameron rumor and was inspired.
However, Brooker denied it:
Just to clear it up: nope, I’d never heard anything about Cameron and a pig when coming up with that story. So this weirds me out.— Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) September 20, 2015
It weirds us all out, Charlie.
Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press.