David Cameron’s decision to hire Andy Coulson, the former News of the World Editor, was taken over the head of Francis Maude, the Conservative Party chairman, The Times has learnt.

The wooing of Mr Coulson to become the Tories’ chief spin-doctor was also taken without the knowledge of George Bridges, the Conservatives’ head of campaigning.

Mr Bridges, currently in charge of planning media announcements, was told the identity of the party’s new director of communications and planning once the appointment had been orchestrated by George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, and Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron’s chief strategist.

Mr Maude had been brought into discussions about Mr Coulson’s role at an earlier stage, but only after it had been approved in principle by the leader. The party chairman negotiated Mr Coulson’s £275,000 salary. Although Mr Maude is broadly supportive of the appointment, Mr Bridges is understood to have protested about Mr Coulson’s arrival.

The hiring of the former Sunday tabloid editor, who resigned after the royal phone-tapping row, was presented last night as a significant coup. It failed, however, to draw attention away from the grammar school row, the most damaging of Mr Cameron’s 18-month leadership.

The Tory leader went on the offensive yesterday, insisting that he wouldn’t “flinch” from changing his party. He also attempted to reconcile his original assertion that he wouldn’t “build a handful of grammar schools” with the later concession that the party supported additional selective schools in areas where they already exist.

“There will be no reintroduction of grammar schools and no reintroduction of the 11-plus in the huge swaths of the country where they were abolished,” he said.

He conceded that, as yesterday’s poll in The Timesshowed, the row over the issue of selective eduction had been a setback and promised that in future he would “explain more” to Conservative members.

“Of course the last couple of weeks haven’t been as smooth as I’d like, but when the smoke clears and you look at what’s happening, it’s the Conservative Party in the centre ground,” he said.

The Tory leader insisted that the row showed he was concerned about education “for all children in all schools, not just for some children in some schools”.

Mr Cameron chose to return to the contentious subject after consulting senior colleagues on his return from holiday. He accepted that he had to counter the impression that he had been forced into a U-turn by frontbench opposition. After weeks in which Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne insisted that the party would not “promote” selective schools, Dominic Grieve said that, in fact, Tory policy allowed for more grammar schools to be built.

David Willetts, the Shadow Education Secretary, admitted that Mr Grieve had correctly pointed out that an exception to the ban on new grammar schools had been granted to areas such as Buckinghamshire and Kent which never banned selective education. Mr Osborne and Mr Cameron privately insist that Mr Willetts did bring the loophole to their attention.

Mr Cameron is determined to ensure that he does not repeat the same mistake and hopes Mr Coulson will help spot future pitfalls. David Cameron warned that young Muslims in Britain presented a “real problem” and that evidence showed growing “cultural separatism”. Citing polling evidence, he said “the next generation of British Muslims are more separate from mainstream opinion than their parents.” He said that all sections of society shared the responsibility to inspire a sense of common citizenship. He called for history to be taught in a way that celebrated Britain’s positive achievements at home and abroad. It was essential that new immigrants learned to speak English so they could communicate with the rest of society, he said.

Cameron woes

A-List The aim of David Cameron’s “Alist” of priority candidates was to get more women and members of ethnic minorities chosen in winnable seats. The list upset the grass roots, and was later abandoned

European People’s Party Mr Cameron pledged to leave the main centre-right group in the European Parliament “within months”. He then said he would not pull out until 2009

Patrick Mercer The Homeland Security spokesman was sacked after he suggested in a Times Online interview that racial abuse was a normal part of life in the Army

Greg Dyke for Mayor The Conservative leader failed to persuade the former Director-General of the BBC to run for Mayor of London on behalf of the Tories and Lib Dems

Grammar Schools David Willetts’s words caused anger in the party, and one shadow minister quit before he was sacked

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