12 facts you probably didn't want to know about the leader of Her Majesty's official Opposition, Dave the chameleon. It is a slow news day, after all.


1. One of Dave's main aims is to "get into the cities" and woo the urban vote. In rural Oxfordshire, he once won first prize for his home-grown tomatoes.

2. On Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Dave chose among his favourites The Smiths' 'This Charming Man'. This song begins with the lyric, "...Punctured bicycle / On a hillside desolate". Let us hope cycling Dave is not left stranded in Tory HQ any time soon.

3. Rejecting his party's former neoliberalism, Dave has borrowed an idea first pioneered in the 1970s by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan: the importance of GWB ("General Well-Being"). 1 in 10 Bhutanese die before their first birthday. Perhaps, as The Economist notes, this is all part of the fun.

4. Mrs Thatcher once said that "there is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families". Cameron, on the other hand, calls for better work-life balance in order to improve society's "sense of well-being".

5. Vernon Bodganor, CBE, professor of government at Oxford, vice-principal of Brasenose College, PPE graduate, monarchist and former tutor of a younger Dave, has described Mr Cameron as "one of the ablest" students he has taught. Dave's political views were summarised by Prof Bodganor as those of a "moderate and sensible Conservative".

6. Dave is Queen Elizabeth II's fifth cousin twice-removed, via William IV's illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth FitzClarence. It is rather curious, then, that Dave's favourite album is The Queen is Dead. (Dave's wife, Samantha, also has a royal connection.)

7. In the Eton magazine, Dave was reported to have sprained his ankle while dancing to bagpipes on a school trip to Rome.

8. Dave fronts this month's issue of GQ magazine with a photo that The Spectator describes as "pouting".

9. Reflecting the leaders of the Tory Party, 1997-2003, Dave's two middle names are William and Duncan.

10. Jeff Randall, a journalist who dealt with Cameron while he was working for the PR company Carlton, has said he would not trust Dave "with my daughter's pocket money", while The Sun's business editor called him a "poisonous, slippery individual".

11. Dave has been voted the worst dressed man of 2006. Clearly the poll is flawed, however: Pete Doherty with his shoes, and Tony Blair with his ties, also came in the bottom 20.

12. Dave claimed to have been "interrogated" by the KGB - which he suspects was a recruitment drive - while on a gap year between Eton and Oxford.