The former party leader is expected to become Shadow Foreign Secretary or Shadow Chancellor in Mr Cameron’s team, although which post he takes is likely to depend on George Osborne, the current Shadow Chancellor, who is a close friend of Mr Cameron as well as his campaign manager.

Mr Hague will be asked to take on the Shadow Chancellor’s role only if Mr Osborne decides that he wants a different post in Mr Cameron’s line-up. Some believe that Mr Osborne would feel no sense of humiliation at having to give way to Mr Hague and that his own career path would be helped by taking a portfolio such as education, which Mr Cameron currently holds.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, would not take a formal role in a Cameron team, The Times has learnt.

Mr Clarke, who was knocked out in the parliamentary stage of his third attempt to become leader, has told friends that he believes that he could be of more value to the new leader by keeping his freedom to speak out on the back benches. He would not be attracted by the position of deputy leader, which some close to the Cameron camp have suggested for him.

Mr Cameron’s biggest dilemma would be which job to offer David Davis, against whom he is fighting for the leadership.

Experienced figures in the parliamentary party believe that Mr Cameron would be advised to keep Mr Davis in a senior role, possibly in his current job of Shadow Home Secretary, to avoid his becoming a focus of potential opposition on the back benches.

But others are suggesting that Mr Cameron should exclude Mr Davis. They believe that if he was offered a junior post he would be unlikely to take it and would go voluntarily to the back benches. Some are saying that it would be Mr Cameron’s “Clause Four moment”, likening it to Tony Blair’s decision to scrap Labour’s founding creed to prove that his party had changed.

It is thought that Mr Cameron would want to give a job in his “top four” to Liam Fox, the present Shadow Foreign Secretary, who finished third in the parliamentary party and is now seen as the emerging leader of the Right. If Mr Hague becomes Shadow Chancellor, Dr Fox would be expected to stay in his post.

Mr Osborne will have the task of replying in the Commons on Monday week to Gordon Brown after he has delivered his Pre-Budget Report — on the the day before the result of the leadership election is announced.

Patrick McLoughlin, the deputy chief whip and a popular figure in the Commons, is likely to become Mr Cameron’s chief whip, The Times understands.

There are also expected to be senior jobs for Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Environment Secretary who backed Mr Cameron from the start, Francis Maude, the party chairman, Chris Grayling, the Shadow Commons Leader, and Caroline Spelman, the local government spokesman. He will want to bring other women into the team — Eleanor Laing and Julie Kirkbride are tipped.

Mr Hague’s comeback would be seen as a huge boost to Mr Cameron because he remains one of the party’s strongest performers.

He has told friends that he would not be interested in standing again for the leadership, although he would inevitably be seen as a candidate if Mr Cameron were to falter.

At one of the leadership hustings Mr Cameron said that he was “confident” of persuading Mr Hague to come back, indicating that they may have already talked about jobs.

Mr Cameron is likely to ask Edward Llewellyn, a former Conservative official who worked with Lord Patten of Barnes in Hong Kong to be his chief of staff.

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