Senior Tory Christopher Shale found dead at Glastonbury festival

A close political ally of David Cameron has been found dead in a portable toilet in a backstage area at the Glastonbury festival. Christopher Shale, the 56-year-old chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative Association (Woca), was found dead on Sunday morning. Cameron said he was "devastated" by his friend's death, which came hours after Shale was quoted, in a Conservative strategy document leaked to a Sunday newspaper, as saying the Tories had come across over the years as "graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take" and needed to radically change. The prime minister, whose Witney constituency is in west Oxfordshire, released a statement in which he said: "Sam and I were devastated to hear the news about Christopher. He was a great friend and has been a huge support over the last decade in west Oxfordshire. "A big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away. Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I've ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm and above all his love of life. "It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party, both locally and nationally. Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They have lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and, like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend." Shale's death coincided with the publication of the article in the Mail on Sunday which revealed the contents of a document, said to be written by him, arguing that the local party needed to change to boost membership, using the codename Operation Vanguard. The cause of Shale's death is unknown, but the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, told a press conference on Sunday afternoon that a "senior Tory party member" had died. "We're told it is a suicide situation," Eavis said. "It is very, very sad." Police said it was too early to say what the cause of Shale's death was, while other sources suggested it was a heart attack. Inspector Chris Morgan, of Avon and Somerset police, said: "At 9am this morning, a male has been found down by the press office in the toilet area. At the moment, we're working to establish the cause of the gentleman's death." Eavis said teams had been out looking for Shale "through the night". Officers were seen comforting a woman after his body was found. An area between the Pyramid stage and the Other stage was cordoned off on Sunday morning, but reopened by the afternoon with only a minor police presence. The memorandum, reported by the Mail on Sunday, said Cameron's own association had gained only 22 members in the past year, and Shale was reported to have proposed "a transformational increase" in membership in ways that others could follow nationally. According to the paper, he wrote that "collectively we are not always an appealing proposition". He criticised the association's fundraising efforts, saying: "Over the years, we have come across as graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take" and concluded that people did not join because they "think we'll beg and steal from them. And they're right". Shale added: "When we are together, we are not always a group of people to whom many of our potential members are going to be magnetically drawn. "When we come together as a group we sometimes morph into something different, less attractive. Our [Woca] environment alters us." The solution he offered was: "We must look different – when we communicate, when we're together. We must sound different – in what we say, how we say it, the language we use, our tone of voice. We must behave differently – try to see ourselves as others see us." He claimed the country could be divided into two groups, "politics-heavy" people and "politics-light" ones who are not interested in the subject except at general elections. He calculated that 98% of the population was "politics light" and that "politics heavy is a big turnoff for politics-light people". Shale likened changing the membership package away from political activity to what Cameron did to the national party: "It's what, pre-2005, DC used to call double ham and eggs. We've offered them ham and eggs repeatedly. They don't want it. So how can the solution possibly be double ham and eggs?" Instead, under Shale's strategy, "Woca is, in effect, going into the event management business". He proposed the association put on events with "money-can't-buy appeal". One idea was for "the PMQ DIY lunch: bring your own sandwiches to watch PMQs in a different fine country house in the constituency (by courtesy of a PPC member) every week; glass of wine, cup of coffee, informal discussion, yours for a fiver". He also proposed party supporters be given access to politicians in the US in return for cash. "We might have 'Just Another Ordinary Day: we'll organise it but choose how you get there, stay where you like for as long as you like and on one of the days breakfast briefing with a senior staffer, tour of the White House, lunch with a senator ... yours for cost plus a £1,000 donation to Woca." Shale was a successful businessman as the chief executive of Oxford Resources Ltd, a corporate cost-reduction company based in Chipping Norton. Previously, he was the chief executive of SGL Communications. He was also a director of the Centre for Policy Studies and a sponsor of OpenEurope, the eurosceptic thinktank. He was a donor to William Hague's office in opposition, and went to Rwanda with a social action team organised by the Conservatives. He was seen as a modernising rightwinger. From guardian.co.uk