David Cameron’s former spin doctor Sir Craig Oliver NEVER actually joined the Conservative Party despite working for Prime Minister for five years

DAVID Cameron’s controversial former communications chief never joined the Conservative Party, it has emerged.

Senior Tory officials made the discovery about Sir Craig Oliver last week after being told he wanted a pass to the Tories’ annual conference, which began today.

The revelation stunned some party bosses, who believed he had become a member after working in No10 for five years and helped to run the Tories’ general election campaign last year.

Former BBC TV executive Sir Craig has come to Birmingham to publicise a tell-all book about the EU referendum campaign that is published this week.

But as he isn’t a Tory member, the party insisted on trying to charge him £1,450 to come to the four day-long conference as a "commercial guest" instead.

A senior Tory party source said: “If you work for the Prime Minister and run election campaigns for the Conservatives, it’s bizarre he never became a party member.

“A lot of us are now wondering why not.”

But a source close to Sir Craig told The Sun: "Craig sweated blood and tears for the Conservative Party for five years, and his dedication to it cannot be questioned.

“He never claimed he was a party member to anyone so it's a real shame that people should feel the need to suggest he has mislead anyone because they don’t like some of the hard truths he has written."

During the 2015 general election campaign, Sir Craig was teased by then Tory leader David Cameron after canvassing data threw up the surprise revelation that he was listed as a floating voter.