Cameron’s trip to Murdoch’s yacht

It seems shadow chancellor George Osborne was not the only top Tory mucking around on billionaires’ boats this summer. The Independent reveals today that the Conservative party leader David Cameron (pictured) was whisked out to Greece in August on a private jet to have drinks and dinner with the Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch - who, of course, owns the Sun and the Times - on board his 184ft yacht Rosehearty.

In order to engage in this high-level schmoozing, Cameron was given use of Murdoch's son-in-law Matthew Freud's private jet. He makes no secret of the plane rides in the Commons register of interests, but doesn't reveal that the purpose of the trip was to meet Murdoch. The entry states that on August 16, a private plane provided by Freud, who is married to the tycoon’s daughter Elisabeth Murdoch, took Cameron, his wife, Samantha, and two of their children from Farnborough in England to Istanbul.

The Independent reveals that the Camerons were then flown out to the Greek island of Santorini where Rosehearty was moored. After drinks with Murdoch, Cameron and his family attended a dinner party on Freud's yacht, Elisabeth F, which was also attended by Murdoch. Later that evening, Cameron and his family were flown on Freud’s plane to Dalaman in Turkey where the Camerons began a sailing holiday to celebrate the 60th birthday of Cameron’s mother-in-law, Viscountess Astor. A source in the private jet industry estimated the Camerons' flights would have cost around £34,300 in total.

A spokeswoman for Cameron told the Independent that Freud, and not Murdoch, paid for the flights to Istanbul, Santorini and Dalaman. She said he had already booked his family's tickets to Turkey and had been unable to accept the invitation to Freud's dinner party. But it became possible to attend after he decided to make a flying visit to Georgia, where he upstaged the Government by meeting its President, Mikheil Saakashvili, in the wake of the Russian invasion. His flights to and from Tbilisi were paid for by the Conservative Party.

The dozen or so guests at gathered on Murdoch's yacht that evening included the singer Billy Joel, Rebekah Wade, editor of the Sun, and Ben Silverman, co-chairman of the American television network NBC Universal.