As of late, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron cannot escape sordid tales of debauchery. The story of his initiation into Oxford’s dining society that involved him bonking the head of a dead pig just won’t go away. Another story claimed he and his wife were seen at a cocaine party attended by celebrities.
But Cameron’s most recent brush with the press comes in the form of a spy thriller offered by The Daily Mail. On a beach in Crimea when then 18-year-old Cameron was on his gap year—perhaps before the pig-fucking incident—he and his classmate were approached by two Russian men who spoke fluent English.
The two older Russian men asked the two young Englishmen out to dinner. They feasted on caviar and sturgeon, and drank untold amounts of vodka. Cameron and his friend quickly grew wary as the conversation veered toward politics. The two Russian men, who said they worked at a local hotel, were inciting them to bad-mouth Margaret Thatcher.
In 2006, years after the odd encounter, Cameron appeared on BBC Radio and speculated these two men were in fact KGB agents, according to The Daily Mail.
The two journalists who reported the spy story raised several questions of espionage. Were the KGB agents trying to recruit him? When arriving in Crimea, did Cameron’s family connections arouse an opportunity for the Russians? After all, Cameron’s godmother was Princess Margaret’s right-hand lady.
The investigation led the journalists to seek speculation from a retired spy. The ex-spy suggested the agents were using Cameron and his classmate as a training exercise.
The two journalists also found an old interview with one Igor Kuznetsov, who later went on to become a KGB colonel. According to Kuznetsov, the run-in with Cameron was most definitely for recruitment purposes. He also said that Cameron was asking around for some pot and perhaps some stronger stuff.
Kuznetsov claimed that KGB bosses refused to let him supply Cameron with any narcotics, and decided to abandon any further attempt to recruit the Englishmen.
The interview concluded with Kuznetsov saying that Cameron was likely a dead end anyway. “Young man, likes drugs, he won’t go too far in his career.” So much for Soviet intelligence.