Christopher Shale: David Cameron's Friend, Tory Leader Found Dead At Glastonbury

LONDON — A close friend of the British prime minister was found dead in a portable toilet at one of the country's leading music festivals Sunday, authorities said.

Christopher Shale died in unexplained circumstances in the VIP area of the Glastonbury Festival, an entertainment extravaganza that's one of the fixtures of Britain's music calendar.

Shale, who was in his 50s, chaired the Conservative Association in David Cameron's West Oxfordshire constituency, and in a statement Cameron said he and his wife Samantha were devastated by the news.

"He was a great friend and has been a huge support over the last decade," Cameron said. "A big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away ... like so many others Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend."

Shale was staying in a restricted, celebrity-packed area of the festival, which is held on a farm in southwestern England and has drawn some 170,000 people. He was discovered by police shortly after 9 a.m. Festival organizer Michael Eavis said he was told the incident was "a suicide situation" but police have yet to confirm that.

"It is only a couple of hours ago," Inspector Chris Morgan said. "We are still working on establishing a cause of death."

News of the death comes the same day as Shale was quoted in a national newspaper as describing the weakness of his association in unusually frank terms.

"Over the years we have come across as graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take," the Mail on Sunday quoted him as saying in a strategy document which the paper said it had seen. According to the Mail, he added that people weren't joining his group because they "think we'll beg and steal from them. And they're right."

Shale worked as the chief executive of Oxford Resources Ltd., a cost reduction company.

Comments

[Whinger]

01:55 PM on 06/27/2011

The cause of Mr Shale's death is still undetermined....

[dayzee10]

09:13 AM on 06/27/2011

Those port-a-potties are really lethal.....always #1 in the bushes....#2 hold it until you get home

[binarystar]

01:25 PM on 06/27/2011

If you're hardcore like me you #2 in the bushes and #1 on the dance floor.

[mustardhead98]

08:55 AM on 06/27/2011

I can't believe some of the comments here. I hope his family passes on this article/comments. How sad.

[oneman689]

06:44 AM on 06/27/2011

I did some checking elsewhere on the net. Other articles say there was no indication of suicide.

[DungBeetle]

06:32 AM on 06/27/2011

Potential Elvis copycat death...one-upping him by introducing the port-a-potty/festival factor.

[Howard53545]

06:06 AM on 06/27/2011

They took him out.

[saltpeter]

05:18 AM on 06/27/2011

When Conservatives started hanging out a Glastonbury is when the festival went down hill.

[RobertFromMN]

05:05 AM on 06/27/2011

A fitting end for all Tories.

[oneman689]

06:32 AM on 06/27/2011

You are a person of very low taste.

[RobertFromMN]

06:37 AM on 06/27/2011

Perhaps it was a bit harsh.
But just a bit.

[StopCensoringMe]

03:29 AM on 06/27/2011

"Over the years we have come across as graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take," the Mail on Sunday quoted him as saying in a strategy document which the paper said it had seen. According to the Mail, he added that people weren't joining his group because they "think we'll beg and steal from them. And they're right."

Oh, he should have come across the pond. Sounds like he would have been quite welcome in the GOPee.

[hueylover]

01:36 AM on 06/27/2011

Hopefully none of his relatives ever read the comments here.

[FabulousTahoe]

11:30 PM on 06/26/2011

This SO sounds like the plot to an MI-5 / "spooks" episode.

[WeCanDoMore]

11:17 PM on 06/26/2011

A corpo comes celan and then he is dead. Maybe this is how the GOP keep them in line here. I call him brave.

[nokaoi]

10:39 PM on 06/26/2011

whata way to go ...in a portapotty...taken by your own hand, maybe...

[Beth Hefty]

10:38 PM on 06/26/2011

I honestly can't think of a worse place to die, especially at a festival. My sympathies to his family and friends. Even if he was a Tory he was still a human being and deserves some respect in death.

[Charles Fortner]

10:10 AM on 06/27/2011

Oh, I can think of a lot worse. Submarine, in an attic trying to get through the roof while the water rises (happened a lot here during Katrina), Worst I ever saw was a guy who had fallen into a truck full of hot asphalt.

[DAE]

10:22 PM on 06/26/2011

Chief Executive of a "Cost Reduction Company?" Sounds like an outfit that figures out how to fire as many people as possible from their jobs. I guess over here we call it the Republican Party.

[bgofca]

01:07 AM on 06/27/2011

yeah, sounds like how mitt romney made the money he didn't inherit.

[oneman689]

06:37 AM on 06/27/2011

DAE - His business was related to private enterprise. Private enterprise is a situation where people create a business with the goal of generating something called "profit." This concept is hard for many on the left to understand, because it does not involve an income guarantee. Further lessons are available if needed.

[DAE]

10:46 AM on 06/27/2011

So you agree with what I said. There was a time in our country when private enterprise was seen as the best means to raise the living standards of the whole population not just the top most 1%. Profits were important because they were supposed to allow entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and employ more people while making a more than comfortable living for themselves. Government was seen as an adjunct to this social contract. There was a feeling that we were "all in this together." Then 30 years ago the likes of you can along. You and your ilk decided to break the social contract that created the American "Middle Class" and go for broke. Cut taxes and eliminate benefits, downsize and outsource all for the sake of profits. Not to raise the whole country up, but to keep it down. The vast majority of Americans saw their living standards stagnate or decline while the wealthy few had more money than they knew what to do with.. So oneman689 don't lecture me or anyone else here, we're onto your game.