Tory MPs say prime minister is so attached to the aristocracy he will want to become the Earl of Witney when he retires
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David and Samantha Cameron will want to become the Earl and Countess of Witney when they leave No 10, according to some Tories. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
David and Samantha Cameron have worked hard to play down their aristocratic backgrounds.
Sam Cam has affected a Dido-style "mockney" accent which means hardly anyone would guess she is the daughter of a major landowner, Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, the 8th Baronet.
The prime minister laughed off his membership of the Tory aristo club, White's, saying he paid his subs to keep his late father happy. Cameron has to look a little further to find a title in his family. His mother, Mary, is the daughter of the late Sir William Mount, the 2nd Baronet.
Some Tories believe that Cameron's attachment to the nobility will resurface when he no longer has to face the electorate. They believe that when he eventually stands down Cameron will revive the tradition of granting an earldom to a former prime minister. The Camerons would become the Earl and Countess of Witney, the name of his Oxfordshire constituency.
One government supporter says:
Don't believe all that guff from Dave that he's not interested in class. Of course he is. He's obsessed by it because he is close to, but not quite part of, the aristocracy. He was, after all, a young adult when he chose to join the Bullingdon Club at Oxford.
Dave will no doubt be very keen to revive the tradition in which a former prime minister becomes an Earl. I am sure he and Sam would love to be the Earl and Countess of Witney.
The tradition lapsed relatively recently. Harold Macmillan was the last former prime minister to be created an Earl. Margaret Thatcher asked the Queen to appoint Macmillan as the 1st Earl of Stockton in 1984, two years before his death.
There is just one living link to a prime minister who became an Earl. Clarissa Eden, 91, who became the Countess of Avon in 1961 when the late Sir Anthony Eden was appointed the 1st Earl of Avon, published her memoirs in 2007.
Of the eight (former) prime ministers since Macmillan, four accepted life peerages – Alec Douglas-Home, who had renounced his earldom to become prime minister in 1963, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher. Two accepted knighthoods (Ted Heath and John Major) while Tony Blair and Gordon Brown remain untitled.
Thatcher was responsible for the creation of three hereditary titles in addition to Macmillan's earldom:
• William Whitelaw, Thatcher's deputy, was appointed the 1st Viscount Whitelaw in 1983. Whitelaw had four daughters which meant his title died with him in 1999.
• George Thomas, the former Speaker of the Commons, was appointed the 1st Viscount Tonypandy in 1983. His title died with him in 1997 because he never married.
• Thatcher's late husband was appointed Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, on 7 December 1990 just over a week after his wife's resignation as prime minister. On his death in 2003 their son, Mark, succeeded to the title.
UPDATE 7.00pm Saturday
A source close to the prime minister described as "nonsense" claims that he aspires to be an Earl. The source pointed to this exchange – the first – in today's interviews with Cameron in Guardian Weekend:
David Mitchell, comedian: Do you wish you were less posh?
DC: [Laughs] No. You can't change who you are. For a long time I thought my full name was 'The Old Etonian David Cameron'. I had parents who gave me a wonderful start in life, who sacrificed a lot to give me a great education. So I don't ever want to change – I don't want to drop my accent or change my vowels. I am who I am.
The source close to Cameron said:
He's relaxed about his background, that doesn't mean wanting to become an Earl!