David and Samantha Cameron have been overwhelmed by the thousands of messages of condolence following Ivan’s death.

The couple have not yet made a public statement, but a Tory party spokesman said there had been more than 2,000 emails, hand-delivered letters and telephone calls within hours of the news being made public.

The Royal Mail has also contacted the party asking where to deliver the sackfuls of post it has already received.

The Camerons, who today travelled to their constituency home in Dean, have been passed some of the messages. A party spokesman told the Oxford Mail: “David and Samantha would like to thank everybody for their thoughts and kind messages. They have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people and their kindness, which has been a tremendous help for them.

“There has been an enormous outpouring of goodwill, and they are incredibly grateful to people for the way they have responded.”

Mr Cameron is expected to take two weeks off from his duties.