Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has insisted he had a "constructive" meeting with Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby, despite the war of words between them.
The pair sat down for talks following a furious row which left the Conservative Party looking divided. But a spokesman for Mr Duncan Smith described it as "a very positive meeting".
It followed the publication of a study into unemployment and poverty in Birmingham by Mr Duncan Smith's think tank, the Centre for Social Justice.
The report, called Breakthrough Birmingham, followed a high-profile inquiry by Mr Duncan Smith into social breakdown across Britain. The inquiry was commissioned by Conservative leader David Cameron.
It praised the work of Birmingham City Council, which is led by Conservatives, and even included a short section contributed by the local authority itself.
However, on the day of its publication the city council issued a statement claiming the findings were "poorly researched and in some cases wholly inaccurate", and produced a 2,000-word dossier describing key elements of the report as "inaccurate, out of date or misleading".
The harsh words were seized upon by Labour MPs, who accused Tories of being divided.
Steve McCabe (Lab, Hall Green) said: "It illustrates the state of the Tory party today, fighting like ferrets in a sack."
But Mr Duncan Smith's office said Conservative council leader Mike Whitby had welcomed the report, when the pair met on Thursday.
A spokesman for Mr Duncan Smith said: "Iain Duncan Smith met Councillor Whitby. They had a private meeting together to discuss the positive report and how they could take issues raised in the report forward."
He said the city council statement attacking the report had been an attempt to focus attention on the city's successes.
He said: "Clearly, Birmingham wanted to highlight the successes while accepting there are issues. We think there was some unfortunate language used, such as 'wholly inaccurate'.
"It was a very positive meeting and Mike was very pleased that the Centre for Social Justice wants to work with Birmingham."
Mr Duncan Smith led the Conservatives from 2001 to 2003.
Other senior Conservatives at Westminster, with no connection to Mr Duncan Smith, were angry at the way the council leader had handled the incident. One said: "Nothing Iain said was criticism of the council or the city. Whitby's reaction was a total own goal."
