Lord Ashcroft fights for his life as he misses David Cameron 'Piggate' book launch
LORD Ashcroft missed the launch of a controversial biography of David Cameron that he co-authored after suffering from a life-threatening illness.
Lord Ashcroft has suffered a life threatening illness
Call Me Dave, written with journalist Isabel Oakeshott, contained a series of embarrassing claims about the Prime Minister's student days.
One, which was dismissed as nonsense by sources close to the Prime Minister, was the allegation that he participated in a stunt while at Oxford University involving a dead pig and "a private part of his anatomy".
Guests at the launch event in London were told that Lord Ashcroft suffered a "life threatening" renal failure, septic shock, liver and kidney failure on September 24 and spent 18 days in intensive care.
A spokeswoman said Lord Ashcroft was now recovering and was "out of danger".
Lord Ashcroft missed the launch of the controversial Call Me Dave biography
Mr Cameron initially refused to "dignify" claims made in Call Me Dave that he had put his penis inside a dead pig when the allegations were made last month.
However, during a trip to the a United Nations (UN) summit in New York the Prime Minister commented after being asked about the issue.
Lord Ashcroft spent 18 days in intensive care
He said: "I can see why the book was written and I think everyone can see straight through it.
"As for the specific issue raised, a very specific denial was made a week ago and I've nothing to add to that."
The Prime Minister initially refused to 'dignify' claims made in Call Me Dave
He also told Sky News he was "too busy running the country" to consider legal action regarding the claims.
Mr Cameron said: "If you do a job like this you do get people who have agendas and write books and write articles and write all sorts of things, but the most important thing is ... doing the job."