PM's encounter with sea creature while on holiday in Lanzarote is not the first time that a jellyfish has caused him pain

David Cameron is known for floating serenely above the political fray, suffering very little damage to his own reputation even as his government is forced into U-turns or his ministers are forced to resign.

But on holiday in Lanzarote this week the prime minister's luck ran out. Bobbing gently in the Spanish waters, Cameron suddenly received a painful sting from a jellyfish.

It seems that the PM was warned that "there's loads of jellies down there" as he approached the sea at Arrieta beach, and prudently removed his children from the ocean.

But he waded in himself, subsequently emerging "shouting in pain", one local told the Daily Mirror.

Another tourist recorded his exact quote: "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Downing Street said the sting was minor and did not require treatment.

However, this is not the first time a jellyfish has caused Cameron pain. Before he became prime minister, the Tory leader was caricatured as just such a sea creature by Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell. But that wasn't because he had a venomous sting or because, like the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, he was essentially immortal. "It's this business about transparency," Bell explained.

"There's a terrible, frightening lack of substance about Cameron. You can listen to him for an hour – honestly, I don't know what he's about. He loves his family. It's all so trite. You know, he's against wrongdoing. There's nothing really there. That's the sort of sense I get with him. There's nothing much in there. So a jellyfish is quite a useful way of getting it across."