Some politicians knuckling down to write their memoirs will refer back to their diaries. Others will rely on whatever hastily scribbled notes they have cobbled together. And some have little more than memories and press coverage to help them.

But not David Cameron.

The former prime minister recently signed up [1] with literary agency to the stars, Ed Victor.

Now it has emerged that he will be aided as he writes his memoirs by 53 hours-worth of digital conversations that he has stored away on MiniDisc.

The Times reports [2] than Cameron held regular secret meetings with Times columnist and Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein to record his thoughts during his time in Downing Street.

“The pair would meet each month in secrecy for about an hour. The encounters would normally take place in the evening in the Downing Street flat, although sometimes they met for lunch.”

The extent to which Cameron will dish the dirt on his Tory colleagues is not yet clear. But Finkelstein’s journalistic prowess may well have extracted a few spicy home truths during the course of their discussions.

Or as The Times puts it, Cameron “could at times be frank about the individuals with whom he was dealing”.