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The Conservatives have vowed to keep up pressure on Gordon Brown over a series of controversial emails from a government adviser.
The prime minister has written to those Tory politicians named in the email smears, expressing "deep regret".
Gordon Brown called for tighter rules governing the behaviour of political aides after a close adviser, Damian McBride, resigned after sending emails that allegedly smeared senior Conservatives and their wives to former spin doctor Derek Draper.
The prime minister wrote to those mentioned in the emails, believed to include Conservative Party leader David Cameron and his Treasury spokesman George Osborne.
Cameron welcomed the handwritten message from the prime minister on Monday.
He said it proved than Brown has finally recognised "the gravity of what has been happening in Downing Street".
The Conservatives have called on cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to investigate who knew about the proposal to set up an "attack blog" called Reg Rag, where it was suggested the smears would be published.
McBride expressed his "shock" after emails sent from a Downing Street account to political blogger Derek Draper were revealed.
The mooted stories, all vehemently denied, were said to include four potential stories.
The first was described as a "solid investigative story" but McBride wrote that the others were "mainly gossipy, and intended to destablise the Tories."
Jonathan Baume, general secretary of the First Division Association, described Brown's call to tighten up the code of conduct for political aides as "a red herring".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Baume said it was "pretty clear" where the line should be drawn for special advisers.
He believed the existing code of conduct already covered inappropriate behaviour.
"What is important is the culture that is set within which those special advisers operate," he said.
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