David Cameron - Not Actually "Working Man Holidaymaker"

'Bucket and spade' Dave has shown his true 'blue' colours by holidaying on a £21,000 a week yacht, surrounded by an armada of seven boats of 74 mates and family and banqueting in the finest restaurants.

Sunbathing on a £21,000-a-week yacht, waited on by an army of staff, this is the holiday Tory leader David Cameron would prefer that you didn't see.

Mr Cameron and his family joined 74 friends on seven traditional gulet boats for a week-long tour of the Turkish Riviera which ended yesterday.

Each of the double-masted wooden vessels with 20ft high white sails has its own personal chef, captain and two crew hands.



It was Mr Cameron's second holiday within a month, but, unlike the first, he didn't invite the Press along. Three weeks ago the Tory leader and wife Samantha posed for official pictures as he holidayed with his family on a humble bucket-and-spade beach in Cornwall.

With the credit crunch biting, he portrayed himself as a stay-at-home politician in touch with the electorate.

His photo-calls and interviews led even his most loyal Tory newspapers to mock his opportunism.

But there was no fanfare at all for his decadent week-long tour off Turkey's south-west coast.

Mr Cameron, 41, flew to Turkey last Saturday, where the former PR executive took advantage of its closeness to the conflict in Georgia and used a private plane for a quick photocall with the Georgian president in Tbilisi.

But by Sunday morning he, Samantha, 37, and their children had joined the sailing party off the Fethiye peninsula to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother-in-law Viscountess Astor. The total cost of hiring the seven gulets was an estimated £150,000.

As the armada organised by Samantha's stepdad, Tory peer Viscount Astor sailed majestically out of Gocek Harbour it looked like a scene from 1970s BBC drama The Onedin Line. Margaret Churcher, 62, on holiday from Leicester with her daughter and son-in-law, said: "They were really impressive they took up the whole bay as they sailed out.

"Those are beautiful boats but I'll have to keep dreaming. We were in just a tiny sailing boat that would probably fit in one of their cabins."

Mr Cameron, his family and in-laws, were in a traditional gulet yacht called the Sema Tuana which sleeps 10.

By day, they swam in the clear blue sea, laughed with pals and drank bottle after bottle of wine served by the dutiful staff. At night, the Camerons dined at rustic seafront restaurants. The large group of pals ate fresh seafood, Turkish mezes and drank local wines at little restaurants dotted along the rugged Aegean coastline.

On Wednesday, they relaxed on plush sofas as the MP for Witney read John Milton's epic 17th century poem Paradise Lost in the 38C (102F) heat.

After showering and changing on board, scores of diners were ferried to land by inflatable dinghies.

That night the party took over the Indigo Terrace restaurant in the pretty Turkish port of Kalkan until 2am before being taxied back to sea on their boats.

A total of 76 guests racked up a bill of more than £2,000.

Waiter Huseyin Aslan, 32, said: "They were all very wealthy and looked like they were here for a lot of fun. They were well behaved but there was a lot of laughing and drinking and some dancing.

"It's very rare to have so many guests all arriving by sea in gulets. We spent all day getting the tables ready because we were told they were very important guests, so everything had to be right."

On Thursday after another day of swimming and drinking, the boats docked at the Kapi restaurant in Kapi Creek, Gobun, where the party packed a long line of tables for a Turkish banquet of fresh fish and wine.

Some of the Tory leaders friends dressed up as pirates for a special theme night, wearing big hoop earrings and skull-and-crossbones bandanas.

While they slept-in the next morning in the bay at Siralibuk, staff were up at 6am cleaning the decks and polishing windows. Then, in the heat of the afternoon, the armada moored in the beautiful bay of Binlik Koya and the tourists swam between boats.

The week-long holiday ended back in the port of Gocek yesterday with breakfast in the harbour before Mr Cameron and his family left for the airport.

Viscount Astor hired the five-star gulets from Turkish company Arena, which arranged a full itinerary including restaurants and accommodation. Other VIPs invited to join the celebrations flew in from Britain, France and Italy.

Turkey's rugged southern coastline is popular with the mega-wealthy who can cruise the coast just across the sea from the Greek island of Rhodes.

But most ordinary holiday-makers have to settle for a group day-trip on a tourist boat because even the smallest motorised vessel will set you back £500.

Tourist Joseph Wright, 57, from South Africa said: "We saved all year to be able to rent a small sailing boat for a week. It's a fortune for us, so who knows how much the final bill for that party was."

Last night, former Europe Minister Denis MacShane said Mr Cameron, had duped the electorate.

The Labour MP for Rotherham added: "When the vast majority of hard-working British people are not sure if they can afford one holiday a year, here is Two-vacation Cameron showing, as long as you are super-rich, you can forget the day-job.

"Cameron tries to pretend he goes on bucket-and-spade holidays but in reality he goes sailing in the lap of luxury with his rich friends."

- Mr Cameron posed for so many pictures in Cornwall that even the Tory Daily Telegraph mocked him in the headline: 'David Cameron shock: no photo opportunities in last 48 hours'.

On July 27, his two-week break began with an official photocall he and Samantha posing on the beach at Harlyn Bay. He posed again the next day and the day after that, with TV cameras invited to join him at a farmers market.

Then on August 10 a more telling picture spread appeared in which he shamelessly promoted a trendy swimwear range owned by his fellow Old Etonian Jonnie Boden.

Red wrote:Wish I could afford a yacht tbh.

Alvin Flummux wrote:

Red wrote:Wish I could afford a yacht tbh.

Or a fleet of ten or so of them like Cameron and co had.

Cuttooth wrote:Honestly could not care less.

Weapon of Choice wrote:£21,000 grand a week Peter.

Peter Crisp wrote:

Weapon of Choice wrote:£21,000 grand a week Peter.

And? I honestly can't see a problem with them spending money on a holiday.

Weapon of Choice wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:

Weapon of Choice wrote:£21,000 grand a week Peter.

And? I honestly can't see a problem with them spending money on a holiday.

Cameron is trying to paint himself as the common man. When was the last time you went on a £21,000 a week yacht?
You don't think it's a bit much?