Tories hire queen of property TV Kirstie Allsopp to liven up policy

The Location, Location, Location presenter is the latest celebrity to be hired by politicians keen on adding some glamour to their policies.

Last month, parenting authority Dr Tanya Byron was called in to advise the government on the effects of computer games and the internet on children.

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Byron, a clinical psychologist, gained popularity for shows such as Little Angels, guiding parents on how to bring up children.

Allsopp will be working with shadow housing minister Grant Schapps, heading a review of home bying to try and restore the housing market and make it easier for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.

A website will also be launched, where users will be given the chance to discuss how processes such as exchanging and negotiating could be made easier.

Allsopp told the Observer: "All I want to do is make it easier for home buyers.

"If i had a call from John Prescott or Ruth Kelly or Yvette Cooper, saying, come and talk to us, if they had realised the HIPS were a mistake, I would have done so.

"I vote home-buyer, it's as simple as that. I think I have a responsibility to do this. I'll go with the politicians who make this process easier, because at the moment it is massively stressful for people."

"I am sure there are worse countries for home-buying but I can't think of many. We're an international laughing stock when it comes to our complex system."

The property expert was the first to join in the attack against HIPS when it was annouced, last July, that they would apply to all property sales by the end of the year.

She said: "An Englishman's home may once have been his castle, but under Labour you have to get the state's permission and pay a state- sponsored inspector, before a prospective buyer can cross the threshold,"

"Hopes and dreams are tied up in bricks and mortar. Yet the Government, in their inability to admit they are wrong, appear determined to play politics with property."

Shapps said: " It's fantastic that Kirstie is going to help us. What we want to do is make home buying or selling much less stressful and hassled than it currently is.

"We dont need a raft of new legislation to do this, just some common sense to see how the process can be simplified."

Channel 4's Location, Location, Location attracts over four million viewers making Allsop a respected industry expert.

Allsop lives in Notting Hill in west London, close to David Cameron's home and the two are said to be friends.

The TV star divides her time between presenting and looking after her son, Bay, and two stepchildren from her partner, millionaire property tycoon Ben Anderson.

Daughter of Lord Hindlip, the former chairman of Christies, Allsopp was educated at £25,000 a year Bedales School in Hampshire and her brother, the Hon Henry Allsopp, is the godson of Camilla Parker Bowles.