Cameron stamps on the SpAds

David Cameron summoned all Tory special advisers to Downing Street for a meeting this afternoon. He wanted, I understand, to warn them that too much of the coalition’s internal workings were being briefed out to journalists. He made it clear that he wants an end to process stories appearing in the papers.
 
Downing Street has been infuriated by recent reports of tensions between Steve Hilton, Cameron’s senior adviser, and George Osborne and is keen to stamp on anything that keeps this — rather misleading — story going. There are also worries about the party being seen as divided again, a return to the old Tory wars stories of the 1990s. 
 
Interestingly, Cameron said that he did not think that many leaks came from officials. This point is disputed by several Tory advisers. There is also irritation that the role of the Liberal Democrats, who are widely suspected of regularly briefing out stories of ‘Blue on Blue’ tensions, was not mentioned.