DAVID CAMERON has said that he had a “normal university experience”, a phrase that conjures up one-night stands in barely carpeted halls of residence with an aroma of economy baked beans and that hints at experimentation with drugs.

It was not quite like that. Documents discovered by The Times show that the young Mr Cameron was experimenting with far more exotic substances. They chart his entry into an exclusive club whose members dressed in brown tail coats with yellow lapels and yellow bow-ties and who took turtle and sherry soup and Marguerite Christel Champagne in some of Oxford’s finest eating establishments.

He has previously admitted to being a member of the Bullingdon Club, notorious for the drunken vandalism of its predominantly aristocratic members. His spokesman confirmed that Mr Cameron had also been a member of the Octagon, a dining club for the sportsmen of Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was a student in the 1980s.

The minutes of the Octagon, in an octagonal leather-bound volume, show that he attended at least 11 events during his time as one of the eight members of the all-male club.

His initiation into the brotherhood was on December 6, 1986, at the Randolph Hotel, a four-star neo-Gothic pile in the centre of the city. It is not a common student hangout. The club was founded in 1866 as a rival to the other dining society at the college, the Phoenix Common Room, thought to be the oldest dining club at Oxford. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig joined the Octagon in 1881.

In 1970 it was still going strong. One member wrote: “We dine well, we drink well, we have the ‘right sort’ of guests; we have no excuse for our get-togethers but no one so far has asked us for one. We simply pretend to be gourmets and end up as gastronomes.”

Records of Mr Cameron’s 18 months in the Octagon are broken by a gap of nine months, after which there is the following entry: “This book, placed in Mr Cameron’s safe-keeping, was subsequently lost for a term and a half!” Next to that Mr Cameron defended his book-keeping skills: “It was not lost, it was looked after”, signing his initials. In time, Mr Cameron would host club meetings, which a contemporary described as having “quite a public school veneer”.

On February 19, 1987, the club “met for dinner in Mr Cameron’s rooms in celebration of St Valentine’s day’s massacre”. Alongside a list of female guests is written “You sexy things” and “There have never been sexier waitresses; methinks my mind doth split at the thought”.

Close to Mr Cameron’s signature is the name Fran Ferguson. Ms Ferguson said last week that she had been his long-term university girlfriend.

One club dinner was held at the Luna Caprese, an Italian restaurant in north Oxford. “Preprandial drinks were taken in Mr Cameron’s rooms”, then the members embarked on a seven-course meal, including turtle and sherry soup. There was a five-course wine list, beginning with Corvo Duca di Salaparuta, passing through Marguerite Christel Champagne and ending with the club’s stable tipple, Graham’s 1977 port.

After 18 months in the Octagon, Mr Cameron bowed out. Participation in these aristocratic rituals had had a strange effect on the young student of politics, philosophy and economics. He had arrived as David William Donald Cameron; he left as Dave. In what is believed to be the first recorded use of his man-of-the-people moniker, the minutes note: “It is with regret that the club says farewell to . . . Dave Cameron.”

Former members of the Octagon tracked down by The Times refused to talk about the club or Mr Cameron. But a former Brasenose student who dined with the Cameron-era Octagon said: “Cameron was a great socialiser. He was great company, always articulate and witty. He could handle his drink and still conduct great conversation.

“The order of the day in the Octagon was to impress each other and make other people laugh. There was some quite acerbic banter, but it was very erudite. People wanted to show what they’d read. My memory of Cameron is of someone who could very much handle the cut and thrust of the debate.”

In spite of such abilities, Mr Cameron did not scale the ranks of the club, which appointed a president and a secretary. His spokesman said: “He never held any form of office.”

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