As Brown soars in the polls, a split opens up between Cameron and his Shadow Chancellor

Some senior Tory sources said Shadow Chancellor Mr Osborne was responsible for failing to anticipate the extent of Mr Brown's political honeymoon following Tony Blair's departure.

Party officials denied that policy director George Bridges had resigned because of disagreements in the Tory leader's inner circle.

Scroll down for more...

But there was undisguised fury with Shadow Minister Grant Shapps, who was blamed for the decision to call the party 'David Cameron's Conservatives' in the Ealing by-election at which the Tories came a disastrous third.

The series of flashpoints came as Tory MPs urged the party leadership not to panic in the face of Labour's continued success in the polls – and a string of political and public-relations disasters for Mr Cameron.

Publicly, the Tories insist Mr Cameron is confident his plans to reform the party are still on course.

Privately, senior figures are worried by the failure to get to grips with Mr Brown so far.

A fierce debate has gone on among Mr Cameron's aides as to why their prediction that Labour would flounder the moment Mr Blair handed over to Mr Brown has been proved to be wrong.

Some Shadow Ministers have blamed Mr Osborne, who made no secret of his loathing for Mr Brown when he was Chancellor.

One senior Tory said: 'George made a major error by going round trashing Brown and saying Labour would be finished the moment he took over. At the time, he was only saying what the opinion polls were suggesting. But it was naive to boast about it because it has rebounded on us.

'We are left scratching our heads looking as if we don't know what to do about it when we should have prepared the ground.'

But a Tory MP close to Mr Osborne said: 'We'd have looked bloody silly if we had told people Brown would be better than Blair, wouldn't we? Gordon Brown's limitations will soon be clear enough and George will be shown to be right. We just have to keep our heads.'

For his part, Mr Osborne is said to have expressed doubts about Mr Cameron's 'hug-a-hoodie' law-and-order campaign.

Party chiefs are bracing themselves for sniping against Mr Cameron's £240,000-a-year senior adviser, public-relations guru Steve Hilton, architect of Mr Cameron's brand of modern Conservatism.

Right-wing Tory MPs say he has taken the party too far to the Left, leaving it wide open for Mr Brown to woo disaffected Conservatives.

There are also conflicting reports about policy director George Bridges' reasons for resigning.

Mr Bridges, who married at the weekend, blamed 'work-life balance' pressures. But he was annoyed at not being informed that former Fleet Street editor Andy Coulson was to be appointed over his head as Mr Cameron's spin doctor on £260,000 a year – which is nearly double Mr Bridges' salary.

Mr Coulson, brought in two weeks ago to beef up the Tories' public-relations strategy, was recruited by Mr Osborne.

And there are claims that the changes are part of a move by Mr Cameron to water down the influence of Old Etonians in his public school-dominated team.

Mr Coulson was brought up in a council house in Essex; Old Etonian Mr Bridges is the grandson of Winston Churchill's Cabinet Secretary.

Earlier this month, Old Etonian Shadow Culture Secretary Hugo Swire was fired.