Cameron ally's controversial note leaked before his death

London: Christopher Shale, the close ally of David Cameron's whose body was discovered in a toilet at Glastonbury on Sunday morning, may have died as early as the previous afternoon, according to a family friend who said he was briefed by medical staff.

It emerged that Downing Street had contacted the senior Conservative on Saturday to warn him that a controversial note he had written — describing parts of his party as crass and grasping — had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper.

One official contacted him by text just after 12.30pm to advise him not to speak to reporters; another suggested he get in touch with Conservative headquarters.

Shale, chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association and a prominent Eurosceptic, appears to have suffered a massive heart attack as early as lunchtime on Saturday.

The prime minister said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, "devastated", adding "a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away".

Cameron had been aware of the note's existence.