Strategy guru Steve Hilton to take sabbatical

Conservative Party strategist Steve Hilton arrives in Downing Street on his bike earlier this month (Getty Images)

David Cameron's strategy guru Steve Hilton is quitting Downing Street for a year to take an academic position in the United States, Number 10 said.

The Prime Minister's closest adviser will take an "unpaid academic sabbatical at Stanford University" but return next summer, a spokesman said.

"With his wife and young family, Steve will be moving to California.

"He will join Stanford as a visiting scholar at the university's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and will also be a visiting fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution."

His teaching, researching and writing would focus on "innovation in government, public services and communities around the world", the spokesman said.

More to follow...

PA