David Cameron said he was “devastated” after the chairman of his local constituency was found dead in a portable toilet in a backstage area at the Glastonbury festival.
Police said they did not yet know the cause of death of Christopher Shale, a 56-year old businessman, although friends said there was a history of heart problems in his family.
Michael Eavis, the founder of Glastonbury, earlier referred to a “suicide situation” in the early hours of Sunday morning. But a police source later said that the ongoing investigation had not found any suggestion of suicide.
Barry Norton, a councillor in West Oxfordshire, said the death had deprived the party of “a really great man”.
“He was absolutely in good health, we understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have,” he told Sky News. “There is a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.”
The death came just hours after Mr Shale was quoted, in a Conservative strategy Read more
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey