ITV came to breakfast, but Cameron tries to gag BBC after team recorded conference speech rehearsal

Aides threatened to ban technicians who taped the Conservative leader rehearsing his keynote speech on Friday evening, ahead of the party's conference in Gateshead this weekend.

BBC sources said "all hell broke loose" after Tory high command learned Radio 4's Today programme planned to broadcast the recording yesterday morning – five hours before Mr Cameron delivered the speech to delegates.

His aides accused the BBC of "sharp practice" and warned that its staff would be banned from their traditional backstage location at any future Conservative rally if the recording were used.

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At one point Mr Cameron was said to have threatened to pull out of all interviews with the BBC.

According to BBC sources, Today programme editors later decided the tape was "not of broadcast quality".

A BBC insider said the Tories had only themselves to blame because they had left a rogue microphone switched on.

The controversy left Mr Cameron open to charges of double standards, coming just days after his surprising decision to invite ITV News to film him having breakfast with his three young children and wife Samantha last week at the family home.

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The coverage, which included footage of Mr Cameron's severely disabled five-year-old son Ivan, was intended to highlight the "family-friendly" theme of the Gateshead rally.

Mr Cameron denied using his own children for political purposes and said it was "perfectly natural" for the electorate to be given a glimpse of his family at home.

But it was criticised by Labour – and Gordon Brown made it clear he would not allow his sons John and Fraser to be filmed in that way.

Asked whether the BBC row contradicted Mr Cameron's decision to be open with the media, a Tory spokesman told The Mail on Sunday: "We are not commenting."

Privately, the Tories say the BBC broke the traditional code of not eavesdropping on conference speech rehearsals.

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"It is common practice for there to be a media blackout before a leader makes a major speech," said an aide.

"It is totally improper for the BBC to use its privileged access to the conference to record a run-through of a speech and then broadcast it without permission."

A BBC spokesman admitted last night that Mr Cameron's rehearsal had been recorded but denied the Today programme had been gagged by the Tories.

"The reason we didn't use it was because it was inaudible," he said.