Samantha Cameron, whose husband just spent £25,000 on a 'luxury hut', claims she had no disposable income

'I had been working in the luxury/fashion business for a long time and didn’t have disposable income, with childcare and mortgage etc, to buy designer clothes,' says wife of former British PM

Ms Cameron is noted for her fashion while living in Number 10 and serves as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council (Emma Hardy/Vogue)

Samantha Cameron might be the daughter of a multi-millionaire aristocrat and have grown up on a 300-acre estate in Lincolnshire but apparently she too has money troubles like everyone else.

The mother of three, who is of course married to former Prime Minister David Cameron, has claimed she lacked enough “disposable income” to afford designer clothes while juggling a mortgage and childcare.

Ms Cameron said it was this lack of funds for high couture clothes which inspired her to launch her fashion label Cefinn. The women's wear brand, which is named after the initials of the Camerons’ four children, straddles the line between high street and high couture.

Despite the 46-year-old saying the label was inspired by her lack of “disposable income”, the clothes are by no means cheap, with the average dress costing around £260.

Ms Cameron, who was noted for her fashion while living in Number 10 and serves as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council, said the label “came out of a very personal need” during an appearance at FoundHER Festival for women entrepreneurs on Wednesday.

“I had been working in the luxury/fashion business [as creative director, and later consultant, for Smythson] for a long time and didn’t have disposable income, with childcare and mortgage etc, to buy designer clothes,” she told the audience.

“But obviously, working in the fashion industry, I wanted to find workwear and daywear that had a bit of a fashion edge, that felt a bit cleaner, younger, more modern than what was available. So it was a feeling that there was a gap in the market.”

Ms Cameron, who worked for Smythson of Bond Street which specialises in luxury leather goods for 20 years, sparked outrage last year when it was revealed the taxpayer was paying for the salary of a "special adviser" who helped Ms Cameron with her social diary and fashion style.

The aide – normally a position for people who help Government ministers – received up to £53,000 for advising the Prime Minister's 44-year-old wife, according to the Mail Online.

The notion that Ms Cameron, whose husband recently spent £25,000 on a “luxury hut” for his Cotswolds garden, lacks disposable funds will now come as a surprise to many and could even prompt anger. She hails from a wealthy and affluent background - being the elder daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet and a direct descendant of Charles II, and attending the prestigious School of St Helen and St Katharine, which is an independent private school for girls in Abingdon.

Her husband Mr Cameron is from equally “good stock” – he is the son of Ian Donald Cameron, a stockbroker, and Mary Fleur, a retired Justice of the Peace and a daughter of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet. He is also Eton-educated.

The 50-year-old’s historic tax return which was published in April last year demonstrated that the former PM had six sources of taxable income. This included his £140,000 salary as PM, rental income from his £2m home in Notting Hill, interest on savings and dividends from shares.

What’s more, the Camerons do not appear to have found themselves in financial trouble since leaving Downing Street. Last year it was reported that Mr Cameron, who resigned as PM after losing the EU referendum last summer, earned £120,000 per hour for giving a speech about Brexit in New York. This equates to £2,000 per minute.

The couple’s finances were, of course, brought into the public eye after Mr Cameron was forced to admit he did have a profitable stake in his late father’s offshore investment fund but sold it for around £30,000 before he became PM and had paid all UK taxes due on the profits. Details of the fund were included in the Panama Papers - the leak of a huge cache of documents detailing the tax affairs of thousands of individuals worldwide.