+++Telegraph calls Marclar victory+++

Jonathon Isaby over at the

Telegraph

has all but tipped former CF Chairman Mark Clarke to take Tooting...

Sound.

Let me sell you a Tory...

Tory Bear's little friend Olivia Cole interviews ten young up and coming Conservative candidates for this months Tatler...

This is from today's

Standard

:

"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"

So who were the top tories?

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 virtually inventing the Oyster card as a management consultant.

According to Tatler the future looks blue...

"I think I fancy Boris..."

When TB sees those ruddy red cheeks, blonde floppy hair, his knees go weak...

Budding young London Tories packed out the downstairs of an exclusive Whitehall watering hole with one intention and one intention only... The Boris photo op... Facebook profiles across the London network will no doubt be updated with pictures of a Boris back to his famous form.

Thanking Conservative Future for the fantastic effort that they put in during his campaign to become Mayor of London, the cash was behind the bar and the flesh was being pressed.

Arriving a characteristically 40 minutes late, BJ split the room like some sort of 20th century Moses... Half of the hacks instantly dived on the "devilishly handsome man," while the other slightly cooler CF players held back munching on the canapes. They were clearly way too sound to let on that their idol had just brushed past their artfully distressed jeans and jacket combo.

Hearts were fluttering throughout the room, a small queue of pretty young CF girles formed whenever the poor lad stopped. Fighting the heat of a packed basement - or "dungeon" as he called it, Boris ripped off the tie off as he entered - he claimed later to be dressing down to meet George Osborne for supper.

...and then as soon as the Boris tornado arrived, he was gone. A certain rather gorgeous brunette made Tory Bear blush with her comment in his wake that "I don't care what it takes, I mean to have that man!"

A bloody good night seems to be had by all. In the post Boris haze, TB couldn't help laugh at the ever keen ABB corner "the second most important man in the room" for one of her no doubt intense chats.

For those girlies left standing the late arrival of MarClar was almost too much. The famous candidate, interns in tow, was cursing the fact he missed Boris for the second time that night- having crashed the GLA Summer Party under the guise of still being CF Chairman, (you better get on to that Rock!?) It didn't stop him handing out his own branded merchandise though... TB has yet to see a more dreadful business card...

The pen will come in handy though...

Bad Bear...

TB has been very naughty and is in lots of trouble apparently. He would like to make it clear that any insinuation of naughtiness in photos posted previous was not true nor funny... actually it was fucking funny, well not that funny.

Although he said so privately, here it is for all to see... sorry!


Apologies also for the lack of blogging recently. It's been a very, very long week and only just got the interweb thingy back up and running a TBHQ.

Back to normal next week.

oi oi

The Next Generation...

So the Tory young and beautiful were out in force tonight at the Adam Smith Institute's annual lash up on a boat...

Tory Bear managed to fight his way through the swarms of brash American interns who spent the evening arguing about the many different ways they would like to see Barack crash and burn, to find an almost dry bar...

Quote of the night - "McCain '08...yeah more like 1908"

"The Next Generation" - as the evening was billed whooped in a near delirious delight as the boat sailed past City Hall... the screams of "Boris...BORIS!!!" were quite haunting.

The big hit of the night was naughty boy

Howard Flight

who was corrupting the CFers with his tales of

tax cutting

and how to piss off Michael Howard... Tory Bear has never seen so many business cards be whipped out...





This one is going on my wall though:

Other gossip from the evening:

Well it seems that "CF Top Totty" (according to John Moorcraft cough...I mean

Political Rhino

,) Alexandra Swann has managed to stop talking about Surrey for more than eight seconds... She has a new favourite topic of conversation - her recent contraction of the highly contagious and infectious MarClar disease... woof!