Lots of chatter and austerity prosecco at the Taxpayers’ Alliance launch party for their 2020 Tax report at the reopened Atrium last night. Downing Street jobs were high up the list of conversation. Guido put it to ITV’s Tom Bradby that his name comes up as a possible communicator. He sort of denied that he was interested:

“Can you think of anything f***ing worse?”

Guido will put him down as a maybe.

It was all smiles last night in Downing Street as Dave welcomed a tranche of Tory candidates in for drinks. Jokes about still waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares of his own selection process could not mask the bad news – that thanks to the boundary reviews there are no real safe seats up for grabs, but chin up and try again next time.

Guido was more intrigued by Dave’s digs about “unchaining” from the coalition that he’s in “not out of love or loyalty”. Though he repeated “unchaining” more than once, not every one was convinced he had a plan of how it’s going to happen…

Boris spinner Guto Harri is poised to accept a position as Director of Communications at News International on a salary of £250,000-a-year. Guido understands that he promised Boris some weeks ago that he would not accept the position until after the election. Guto is telling the truth when he says he has not signed a contract, he is due to formally sign on with News International next week.

Guido sources at News International say that Sara Argent, currently Head of Operations at the GLA, will also go with him. She is a former CCHQ staffer who worked on the Boris 2008 election campaign.

Guto has also been a name regularly in the frame for a job at Downing Street. If Dave really wants him, he’ll have to move fast…

The LibDems are continuing to claim that they are untainted by BSkyB bid revelations this week. While it is true that Cable’s SpAd Giles Wilkes set the example of how Adam Smith should have been dealing with News Corp spinmeister Fred Michel, the email chains are still damning for the party. When Wilkes rejected a meeting it seems that Michel went to other LibDem spinners and found success with Jonny Oates, the former Bell Pottinger director turned Clegg SpAd, who as Guido reported yesterday was happy to help and brief. But he didn’t stop there…

Paul Marshall, the founder hedge fund Marshall Wace, is a LibDem donor. Crucially he’s also an adviser to Nick Clegg.

Here not only does Marshall acknowledge a meeting with James Murdoch to discuss the bid, he also gives further advice, in writing, for Fred Michel to pass on to his boss:

He recommends BSkyB beef up their PR team and goes so far as to recommend his friend and Brunswick chief Alan Parker. All of this is so that BSkyB can get the “easy win” that Marshall clearly supports adding: ”I wish you luck. You have built a great business and it must be very frustrating to be penalised for your success.” It doesn’t sound like all the LibDems were at war with Murdoch…

James Murdoch has given the British establishment another lesson in mid-Atlantic business speak this morning. The long drawn out discussion has thrown up some interesting snippets so far. Not least was the discussion around a Christmas dinner foolishly attended by the Prime Minister at Rebekah Brooks’ house, which Guido broke a day before the Guardian claimed the scoop. You read it right here first…

Murdoch Jr. confessed that the BSkyB bid had come up at said dinner: “It was a tiny side conversation, it was not a discussion.” Which is somewhat different to what government spinners have said previously. A nervous No.10 will be thinking it could have been a lot worse, but this is still a potential breach of the Ministerial Code as Labour pointed out at the time.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was not so lucky though. Murdoch coughed that Hunt was essentially his back-channel point man for the deal after Vince Cable made clear that a meeting was not going to happen. The chief inquisitor Mr Jay called him Hunt a “cheerleader” and his statements made to the Commons on the matter are looking a little shaky this afternoon…

UPDATE: Rumour reaches Guido that correspondence between Hunt, his SpAds and the Murdochs in regard to BSkyB will be published by the inquiry later. It is said to be very bad news for Hunt.

UPDATE II: Hundreds of pages of emails will be released covering conversations with Hunt’s staff and Murdoch staff. At 4pm…

Telegraph newbie Donata Huggins has broken the rumour that the Taxpayers’ Alliance founder Matthew Elliott is off to Downing Street. Guido understands it is definitely not a done deal, though Elliott has been in discussions with the likes of Ed Llewellyn, Rohan Silva and Steve Hilton since as far back as January about taking on an external relations role. It is the same job that Tim Montgomerie was approached about in December and in fact Montgomerie recommended Elliott to Downing Street. The role will focus on building policy coalitions so that the government can be prepared for or better still avoid getting into unexpected fights like they did on the health bill. Elliott has been spotted going in and out of Downing Street regularly.

As Guido mentioned earlier there is a big re-organisation looming. Policy Exchange think-tank boss Neil O’Brien – a much tipped potential Downing Street recruit – is adamant he is happy where he is and definitely not going anywhere imminently. Word is that Andrew Cooper could be about to make an exit to go back to Populus to cash in ahead of a sale of the pollster in the not too distant future. Guido also hears that Hilton may not be the only Steve in the building making an exit, though Rohan Silva is staying despite reports to the contrary. Guido understands that pressure is being put on staffers to declare one way or the other whether they are going soon, or staying in for the long haul. What will be playing on many Downing Street denizens minds is that a mid-term exit puts staffers at the peak of  their commercial value…

Tom Clougherty is leaving his post as Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute at the end of April. He will be taking up a new post as Managing Editor of the libertarian Reason Foundation think-tank in Washington DC.

Dr Madsen Pirie, president of the ASI tells Guido, “We are very sorry to be losing Tom because of the incredible work he did to build up the ASI, but this is a wonderful opportunity for him and we wish him well in his new venture.”  There are a lot of ladies in Westminster who will miss the charmer’s smile too..

We are on the eve of a round of musical chairs in Westminster’s wonk-land – expect announcements soon. Downing Street is looking likely to have a big re-organisation of personnel on the policy unit front – Steve Hilton is off to California and Clegg’s strategy wonk Richard Reeves is also leaving for America. They are not the only ones said to be leaving Downing Street.  Foreceful political direction of the civil service is much needed, the permanent bureaucracy has become far too dominant in Downing Street…

Guido never had Matthew d’Ancona down as a Daily Star Sunday reader but you learn something every day. He writes this afternoon: “Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s closest adviser, has indicated that he may run for mayoral office when he returns from sabbatical, on the grounds that this will enable him to make a real difference at street level.” Confirming what we said back in February:

“…few believe he will return to Downing Street – rumour has it that he wants to try out his big ideas directly by running a city as mayor.  Given that he got nicked in 2008 for losing his rag with a train ticket inspector in Birmingham, we can cross Brum off the likely list.”

Guido’s money would be on Brighton for the former Green voter, but it’s hardly a big budget executive…

After a terrible couple of weeks of contempt and mocking, what does the government do? Throw in some BS of course. With £600 million found for the Big Society Bank, Cameron told a crowd at the London Stock Exchange:

“Change is always difficult. There are sceptics to convince, vested interests to overcome and arguments to be won… The top-down state controlled monoliths have failed. “

It sounds more like an attack on the Civil Service. With Steve Hilton departing tomorrow, the “sceptics” are now running the show…

It wouldn’t be a terrible week for Dave without his old chum David Davis weighing in. He’s told the BBC “look at the front bench. They see them, all very well turned out, well-fed, they look like they’re in a completely different world.” When asked whether the PM was out of tough Davis helpfully added “it’s an unfair allegation, but it works.” Finally he echoed what lots of Tories are thinking: what the hell is going on in Downing Street?

UPDATE: Here is the audio: