Dave is under fire from yet another source this morning after an embarrassing gaffe gave false hope to Scottish coastguards facing the chop. Responding to a constituent concerned about the closure of coastguard stations north of the border, Cameron pledged that they would remain open until 2015 in order to ease the transition process:

Delighted campaigners had to pop the corks back in their champagne bottles however, as Dave’s office quickly issued a clarification saying that they would in fact be shut down immediately. Oops.

The whole mess has caused severe ructions in the Parliamentary Resources Unit, the Tories’ taxpayer-funded research facility. Guido hears that the offending letter was actually penned on Cameron’s behalf by the PRU’s deputy director Mark Wilkins. Amusingly Wilkins was in the running for Parliamentary Researcher of the Year 2012, apparently: “For his briefings and draft letters, Mark has made the extra effort to source the best evidence and opinions from experts to garner the official view“. Given that Number 10 are furious he can probably kiss that award goodbye…