David Cameron denies being a jinx over sporting defeats

David Cameron has denied he is a jinx for England sports teams, after the rugby union, cricket and football teams each crashed out of world cups in the group stages in quick succession.

The British prime minister said claims of a ‘curse of Cameron’ annoyed him, and pointed to successes in the Olympics and the cricket Ashes against Australia which had occured under his premiership.

Cameron refused to say whether he thought England rugby head coach Stuart Lancaster should be sacked after his side’s elimination from on home soil.

In an interview on LBC radio, the prime minister was asked whether a ‘curse of Cameron’ affected English teams.

He replied: “That annoys me so much. That’s nonsense. Who was prime minister this summer when we won the Ashes, thank you very much? I was prime minister when we had the best ever haul of Olympic medals.

“I always support England and we don’t always win. Shock, horror, surprise.”

Cameron said that since England were knocked out of the rugby tournament, he had been supporting the other home nations.

“I’ve been going round this conference and I went to the Northern Irish fringe meeting, the Scottish fringe meeting, and the Welsh fringe meeting and at each one I said: ‘At 10 o’clock on Saturday night, I became a Welsh or an Irish or a Scottish rugby fan’,” he said.