Tories to get access to the civil service

Benedict Brogan is quite pleased with himself following this morning's Downing Street press conference.

He asked the PM whether he would be implementing Tony Blair's plans to give top Tories access to the higher echelons of the civil service.

Barely two hours later and the fax machine in Mr Cameron's office has whirred out a letter from the Prime Minister confirming that yes indeed, those meetings can go ahead as agreed by Tony Blair in 2006. So from January 1st, Conservative front benchers will be free to open talks with senior officials about implementing the Conservative manifesto in 2010, assuming it ever comes to that.