Former 'News of the World' editor is appointed as Tory spin-doctor

Andy Coulson, who resigned as editor of the News of the World over the royal phone-tapping scandal, is to spearhead David Cameron's press operation.

His appointment as the Conservative leader's director of communications and planning came as a surprise as he has demonstrated little previous interest in party politics.

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Tory sources explained that he would bring "extra horsepower" to their press team and play a key role in preparing the party's strategy in the run-up to the next election. One said: "This is a very, very senior role. It is top table stuff."

Mr Coulson will go head to head with Michael Ellam, a senior Treasury official, who will move to Downing Street to handle daily lobby briefings after the Chancellor succeeds Tony Blair on 27 June. He will replace Tom Kelly, who has been Tony Blair's official spokesman for six years.

Mr Coulson resigned from the News of the World four months ago when Clive Goodman, its royal editor, was jailed for hacking into Prince William's phone messages. Although he knew nothing of the practice, he said he took "ultimate responsibility" and had decided to stand down.

Goodman is now suing the newspaper for unfair dismissal, a move which could yet require Mr Coulson to testify in court while attempting to run Mr Cameron's media team.

During Mr Coulson's four years as the paper's editor it was broadly loyal to the Government. Before the last election it told readers: "The Tories are a Coca-Cola Championship team. Labour aren't Champions League material. But they DO play in the Premiership. Tony Blair's squad are, on balance, the best team to be given the chance to take this great country forward."

The surprise appointment will fuel speculation that Rupert Murdoch's papers, which also include The Sun and The Times, could be edging closer to the Tory party after a decade of backing the Blair government. Mr Cameron said: "Andy will make a formidable contribution as a senior member of my team in building the most effective strategy to win the general election."

George Eustice, the leader's press secretary, will continue to handle day-to-day briefings with political journalists while Mr Coulson takes a wider strategic role.

Essex-born Mr Coulson, 38, joined The Sun as a reporter on its Bizarre showbusiness column in 1988 and rose swiftly through the paper's ranks. He switched in May 2000, to the News of the World, before becoming its editor three years later.

The paper ran several stories that embarrassed the Tories in Mr Coulson's time at the helm. During Mr Cameron's leadership campaign in 2005, it published a front-page photograph it claimed showed his close friend, George Osborne, and a prostitute with cocaine.

The shadow Chancellor, who managed Mr Cameron's leadership bid, said the allegations were "completely untrue" and part of a "smear campaign".

Kelvin MacKenzie, a former editor of The Sun, told the BBC last night: "I would have thought that he was a Tory in the Cameron mould, perhaps, probably. I don't think he is a massively political type of person."

A Tory spokesman dismissed suggestions that the party sought an equivalent to Alastair Campbell, who worked in red-top tabloid newspapers before becoming Tony Blair's press chief. He said: "[Mr Campbell's] reliance on spin and aggressive media management has been discredited."