A nod to Piggate brings Decline and Fall bang up to date

Said pig’s head is a clear reference to an uncorroborated anecdote found in unauthorised David Cameron biography Call Me Dave (written by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott), which alleged the former UK Prime Minister put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth as part of a initiation ceremony during his own time as an Oxford student.

The resulting furore became known as “Piggate,” and given Cameron’s well-known membership of Oxford’s Bullingdon Club (upon which the Bollinger Club in the novel is based), Decline and Fall’s inclusion of the animal head seem to be a clear nod to the scandal.

Of course, there’s no evidence that the incident during Cameron’s university days actually happened, and in any case the supposed activity wasn’t actually a Bullingdon Club-related matter – Call Me Dave alleged that the incident instead took place during an initiation for prestigious Oxford drinking society Piers Gaveston, which is a separate club only founded in 1977.

Still, there’s no doubt that a nod to this Pork-ward moment was the perfect way to bring an 89-year-old novel up to date at a trot. We can only hope Jack Whitehall’s Paul doesn’t get himself into any such ill-advised and impulsive activities as the series goes on – though in fairness, you’d struggle to find one rasher.

Decline and Fall airs on BBC1 on Fridays at 9.00pm