David Cameron’s A-lister Twitters against party ‘dinosaurs’

The Tory party was scrambling to rescue the career of one of David Cameron's favourite women candidates today after her campaign for a key London seat descended into chaos.

Joanne Cash — a pregnant "A-lister" and with close links to Mr Cameron —dramatically resigned as the party's candidate for Westminster North last night amid bitter in-fighting in the local Conservative association.

But as the party leadership tried to avoid another damaging selection row, Ms Cash popped up Twitter and appeared to reinstate herself as the candidate. Ms Cash also infuriated some local members by writing "RIP Dinosaurs" on her Twitter page.

The farcical scenes emerged following weeks of tensions within Westminster North Conservatives between Ms Cash and local party chairwoman Amanda Sayers, a former City lawyer who gave up her career for her family.

Senior Tory sources told the Standard today that "discussions are taking place" to try to get Ms Cash reinstalled as the candidate.

Mr Cameron and party chairman Eric Pickles were both involved in attempts to find a way through the impasse.

The marginal seat of Westminster North is currently held by Labour's Karen Buck, but is a key target for the Conservatives in the capital.

Ms Cash revealed only last month that she was pregnant and expecting her first child in August with husband, the entrepreneur Octavius Black.

She put a message on Twitter declaring she had "huge support from DC [David Cameron] down. Thrilled".

But Ms Cash was allegedly upset at attempts by local chairwoman Mrs Sayers to stay on in her post beyond the usual three-year stint allowed under the rules.

At an emergency meeting of the local Tory association, Mrs Sayers agreed to step down as chairwoman. But Shadow Cabinet minister Lord Strathclyde surprised the gathering by allowing a vote to go ahead to install her as "president". When Ms Cash heard of the vote she announced to the meeting she was resigning with immediate effect.

Yet following intense behind-the-scenes talks, Ms Cash today Tweeted "Lots of rumours flying around distracting from business of electing a new govt! Go go go people!! We have work to do."

Ms Cash appeared in a recent infamous Tatler magazine photo-shoot of Conservative stars of the future, where she was tipped by the magazine to become "future housing minister".

Her husband is a contemporary of Mr Cameron's from Eton and has recently been advising the Tory leader on an informal basis. Their wedding last year was attended by Tory luminaries including Michael Gove and Ed Vaizey.