ENNISKILLEN: A dip in the icy waters of a Northern Irish lake proved the ideal tonic before a day of tough talks with G8 leaders on tax evasion and the Syria crisis, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday. Cameron told a press conference on the banks of picturesque Lough Erne that he had had a swim in the lake that same morning, before the second and final day of the summit. “As for how to prepare for a hard day’s negotiation I can recommend a swim in the lough. That’s what I did,” Cameron said when asked if he had been for a dip.

“It certainly wakes you up in the morning and gets you going for a hard day of chairing these meetings.” The G8 leaders discussed the conflict in Syria in talks that pitted Russian President Vladimir Putin against Western nations, and also sealed a deal on tax evasion. But Cameron — who has previously been pictured before big events going jogging to keep fit — said the world would not get to see his swimming exploits.