Christopher Shale received warning of leaked memo before Glastonbury death
Senior Conservative was 'big rock in my life', says PM, as details emerge of communications surrounding controversial note
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 and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed.
The paper was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared "graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take" and needed to radically change.
Judging by its blunt language, the memo was clearly not written for wide circulation in his local party.
Shale's family is said to have a history of heart failure. Earlier reports, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggesting Shale had killed himself, were dismissed.
Avon and Somerset police said that the death was not being treated as suspicious.
Party officials had earlier said that there was no suggestion from Shale's behaviour that he was overly concerned about the l! eak of p arts of his memo to the Mail on Sunday.
Shale's contacts with Downing Street officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior party source said the heart attack was "just a dreadful coincidence", adding: "The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much."
After receiving the texts, Shale did contact the Witney constituency agent Barry Norton, a West Oxfordshsire councillor.
Norton said: "He was absolutely in good health, we understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. There is a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous." Asked if Shale was aware of the Mail article which used information he had gathered, he said: "Yes he was. He was very aware of that article.
"He was very circumspect with it and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue and he was looking forward to increasing our membership and was working on a pilot to try and do that."
It was pointed out that Shale, 56, who worked in public relations, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character who would not be fazed by the interplay of media and politics.
He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind the Pyramid Stage.
His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. But Shale may have died in the early afternoon of the previous day, according to the family friend.
Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and has been helping co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had told him and Shale's family that they believe he died of a massive heart attack "around lunchtime" on Saturday.
The prime minister, who has been MP for Witney in Oxfordshire for 10 years, said Shale had been "a huge support over the last decade".
"It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They've lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend."
In a statement, Michael Eavis said: "I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the man whose body was found on the site early on Sunday morning."
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