From the government benches Hazel Blears, the arch loyalist cabinet minister, has had to endure the sight of David Cameron, the Conservative leader, pummelling Gordon Brown during the weekly prime minister’s questions.

So when she heard that Cameron was planning to be photographed recreating a classic rock pose during a visit to her constituency, it was an opportunity to take revenge.

Cameron intended to be pictured outside the Salford Lads club where a famous album photograph had been taken of one of his favourite bands, The Smiths, more than 20 years ago.

When he arrived at the club, however, he was thwarted by a demonstration organised by Blears. Labour activists waved placards saying that the Old Etonian was not welcome in the area – which suffered high rates of unemployment under the Tories.

The picture opportunity was ruined and Blears later sent a triumphalist message to the Tory leader. But as this picture published for the first time by The Sunday Times today shows, Cameron was to have the last laugh. “It was quite bizarre that Hazel Blears went to such lengths to stop him getting this photograph,” said a Cameron aide, who accompanied him on the trip to Salford. “But David was determined.”

The Salford Lads club has long been a centre of pilgrimage for fans of The Smiths. The band, fronted by the lead singer Morrissey, was photographed outside the club for the inside cover of its acclaimed album The Queen is Dead in 1986. Devotees from as far afield as Japan and Guatemala have taken pictures of themselves on the club’s porch.

Before his visit to Salford in January, Cameron informed Blears of his plans. Parliamentary protocol dictates that MPs tell their colleagues if they are to visit their constituencies.

The Tory leader was excited about the prospect of paying homage to the band, but instead of a warm welcome he was confronted by the Labour activists.

“Salford lads not Eton snobs” said one placard. “Oi Dave – Eton toff’s club is 300 miles away” exclaimed another.

Faced with the scrum, Cameron was ushered to the back door and managed to get a photograph inside the club. But this was not the famous shot that he wanted and he drove away disappointed.

Blears, on the other hand, was delighted. “Cameron was bundled in the back door and bundled out of the back door. And he never got his photograph,” she proudly told delegates at Labour’s spring conference. Just to rub it in, Blears took a photograph of herself outside the club with a broad grin on her face. She sent a copy to Cameron inscribed: “David, sorry you didn’t get in the picture! All the best from Salford. Hazel.”

The spat continued in the House of Commons. When Cameron bumped into Blears at prime minister’s questions, he told her: “Hazel – I will get my photograph.” She replied “Not on my watch you won’t, Dave.”

Perhaps the communities minister had underestimated how ardently Cameron supported the Manchester band, whose hits included Meat is Murder and Shoplifters of the World Unite. Cameron chose a Smiths’ track, This Charming Man, when he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, and was among the crowd when Morrissey played Wembley in 2006.

His fondness for 1980s alternative bands has been ridiculed as a public relations ploy. One Morrissey lyric said: “I’ve been dreaming of a time when England is sick to death of Labour and Tories.” But when there were reports that Morrissey was unhappy that the Tory leader was a fan, the musician let it be known that the rumours were not true.

Blears, meanwhile, had dropped her guard. Following a shadow cabinet awayday in Bradford last month, the Conservative leader declared to his staff that he wanted to make a detour to Salford. “He has quite a sense of fun,” said an aide. “He just said, ‘Let’s go’.”

Dressed in his business suit, he was taken in his official car to the club – a red-brick Victorian building which was opened by Robert Baden-Powell, who would later found the Scout movement, in 1904.

There were no activists to get in his way this time and Cameron finally got his snap. He is pictured grinning, probably for Blears’s benefit. The photograph is now framed and hanging on his Commons office wall.

Blears has taken the news in good spirit. “At least he has a sense of humour,” her spokesman said yesterday.

There remains only one thing to do. This week Cameron plans to post a copy of the photograph to Blears with a note on the back saying: “You can’t keep a Morrissey fan down.”

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