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A future Tory Cabinet ... at least according to Tatler
Elizabeth Hopkirk and Robert Mendick09.09.08
Tory politicians have never looked so good. Thanks to society magazine Tatler, 10 young Conservatives - billed as the party's stars of the future - were treated to a makeover, transforming them from dour political animals to fashionable clothes horses.
Tatler says the photo shoot, involving several parliamentary candidates in marginal seats up and down the country, proves "David Cameron's Notting Hill Toryism reaches further than leafy W11".
The men wore Gieves & Hawkes, Crombie and Moschino, while the women wriggled into dresses by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Giambattista Valli.
Tatler suggests that the 20- and 30-somethings will one day constitute a Conservative Cabinet.
Nicola Blackwood, 28, who will stand in Oxford West and Abingdon, told the Standard she had felt self-conscious swapping her everyday T-shirt and jeans for a Donna Karan number she had bought especially in the sales. "I was worried about going to the photo shoot as I'm not exactly a Size Zero," she said, "So I took my own dress as I feared I wouldn't fit into anything provided by Tatler."
1 - Shaun Bailey, 37
PPC for Hammersmith. Tipped as future home secretary. Married with a daughter, he grew up in Ladbroke Grove where he is still an active member of the community. Studied computer-aided technology at South Bank University, now a youth and drug worker who set up a charity for young people. A member of the Police Community Consultative Group, he enjoys comics and South American economics in his spare time.
2 - Mark Clarke, 31
Former chairman of Conservative Future and now the PPC for Tooting. Tipped as future trade and industry secretary. Educated at Dulwich College and Durham University where he read ancient, medieval and modern history, he lives in the constituency. His family are originally from the West Indies and he is related to Dame Eugenia Charles, the first female prime minister in the Caribbean. His mother forbade him tell friends and family he was a Conservative because she was so embarrassed - until David Cameron made it less uncool.
3 - Joanne Cash, 38
PPC for Westminster North. Tipped to be a future housing minister. Oxford-educated barrister specialising in media law. Her recreations include country and western singing and yoga.
4 - Annunziata Rees-Mogg, 29
PPC for Somerton and Frome. Tipped to be a future defence secretary. Youngest daughter of former Times editor and Arts Council chairman William Rees-Mogg. Her older brother Jacob is fighting the neighbouring constituency of North-East Somerset. A former journalist, latterly a leader writer on the Telegraph, admired by Tatler for both her style and her substance. Her fiance recently served in Iraq.
5 - Peter Lyburn, 24
Made history as the youngest ever Tory candidate to stand for the Scottish Parliament in 2006. Tipped to be a future environment secretary.
Studied at Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh and worked for the family farming business before entering politics. Early experience included running Boris Johnson's high-profile campaign to become rector of Edinburgh University.
6 - Charlotte Leslie, 29
Prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Bristol North-West. Tipped as future education secretary. Balliol-educated surfer, boxer and competitive swimmer who has already authored an education report for David Cameron's favourite think tank, Policy Exchange, and worked for shadow education secretary David Willetts.
7 - Jeremy Brier, 27
PPC for Luton North. Tipped as future chancellor of the exchequer. The commercial barrister and accomplished cook has a double first in English from Cambridge and quotes Middlemarch as his inspiration for social policy.
8 - Nicola Blackwood, 28
PPC for Oxford West and Abingdon. Tipped as future foreign secretary. A trained classical opera singer, she holds degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge and has done extensive aid work in the developing world. Heroes include Malalai Joya, who was elected to the Afghan Parliament aged 27 and then expelled for her principles. Has written a report for the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission on sexual violence as a weapon of war.
9 - Helen Whately, 32
PPC for Kingston and Surbiton. Tipped as future health secretary. Married and expecting her first child, she is a former national dressage champion who was educated at Westminster and studied PPE at Oxford. After teaching in Nepal for a year, she spent five years with AOL and is now a management consultant specialising in healthcare.
10 - Kulveer Ranger, 33
Director of transport policy for Boris Johnson and party vice-chairman for cities. Tipped as future transport secretary. Studied architecture at UCL, the part-time DJ's heroes include Mrs Thatcher and Gandhi. Headhunted by the Mayor after his involvement with the Oyster card.
Reader views (14)
Never mind the fact that Oxford West and Abingdon has no Tory councillors and is one of the least likely gains the Tories could possibly make.
- Nich Starling, Norfolk, UK
Doesnt The Tatler think ANY of our NORTHERN PPCs are going anywhere near the future cabinet?????????????
I just thought there for a moment that the Conservatives were breaking out of the Westminster Village mindset. NOT so it appears.
- Annabel Herriott, Huddersfield West Yorks
So a photo shoot makeover, its a pity it won't work on Conservative policy's as they have not changed one bit.
Glossy makeovers and gimmicks by David Cameron does not make him worthy to be Prime Minister and I bet everyone in these glossy pictures will jump at the chance of scrapping the Hunting Ban and bringing back extreme animal cruelty to the UK
So in reality on planet earth and not Cameron's fantasy world its just the same old Tories.
I would not vote for them if you paid me. The nasty party is still just that.
- Gary Hills, Stevenage, Hertforshire
Kulveer Ranger: what was his involvement with the Oyster card? The GLA press release on his appointment and his own words at the Transport Committee don't agree with each other as far as I could see. Perhaps the Standard could investigate?
- Tom, London
If these guys are the answer, what the hell was the question!?
- Horrified Tory, London Town
Seems to be a trend these days that young Tories are the good lookers while the opposite is true for the socialists.
- Robert, London
@Oh My Word:
The evidence suggests otherwise.
- Headless, Suffolk
Funny no one has yet voted for any of them. What ever happened to talent over privilege? It shows what a stitch up British politics is that these characters will be parachuted into safe seats and join the tax-payer's funded private club at Westminster on the nod from party grandees. Nice work if you can get it!
- Dee, London
All very good looking, but only 9 and 10 have had anything like a 'proper' job.
We need less of the political class and more people who have actually done something in the real world and in the PRIVATE sector.
- Hab, London
Now now, now't wrong with our Brown babes Ruth Smelly or Yvette Copper
- Two Shags, Bridlington
Words fail me.
- Oh My Word, London, UK
Not all Tom, not at all.
- Jay, London
Quality Tory totty there - woof woof! Couldn't give a fig about this politics nonsense but those young lovelies could enter my cabinet any day of the week. Down with the socialists, repeal the hunting ban, bring back Maggie, hang Nelson Mandela, god save the Queen, and hip hip hooray.
- Tory Boy, Kensington
Now, isn't this team a breath of fresh air to the old, stale and incompetent bunch of fourth raters that are Hazy Bear, Ed Ballsing Everything Up, Jacqui Spliff etc.?
- Tom, St. Albans
