PM 'chillaxes by thrashing the Clegger'

David Cameron switches off from the pressures of office at the weekend by turning on a karaoke machine, having a game of snooker, playing tennis against a machine dubbed "the Clegger" and downing three or four glasses of wine at Sunday lunch.

His "chillaxing" routine at Chequers is revealed in an updated biography which suggests his work-life balance is critical to being able to his job. Cameron: Practically a Conservative by Francis Elliott of The Times and James Hanning of The Independent on Sunday, to be published next week, discloses that the tennis machine fires balls at the PM at high speed. He named it after narrowly defeating his Coalition partner in a real game.

The authors chart the deteriorating relationship between Mr Cameron and Steve Hilton, the strategy guru who left No 10 this week for a year's sabbatical in California and is unlikely to return. They say Mr Hilton chafed at Mr Cameron's readiness to compromise his early ambitions with the demands of the Coalition and the civil service. Meanwhile, Mr Cameron grew weary of the tactics and demands of his close friend for 20 years.