Don't Miss

TB is enjoying a few days off catching up on lots of things before the scrum kicks off on Tuesday. It seems the campaigns are still going strong though over the weekend. If you are switching off for the a couple of days make sure you note these two must reads/watches. Firstly David Cameron's

pitch for PM

in The Telegraph and how his political journey makes him the man for the top job:

"It was nine years ago, but every second is etched on my memory. I couldn’t stop fidgeting as I chewed gum, paced the draughty hall and smoked (I still hadn’t given up by then). The hours dragged by, the torture seeming to get only more intense. Every ballot box that was emptied appeared to have crosses for my opponents, not for me. My stomach was in knots, a gnawing dread that my second attempt to win a seat in Parliament would end in failure again."

Secondly catch up with BBC Parliament's half hour "

Hard Talk

" with Heather Brooke:

She get's quite a grilling and handles her own well in yet another, but ultimately fascinating, insight into her campaign against the establishment. 

Exclusive - Labour PPC Abandons Front for Online War

Yes TB knows he is meant to be packing but a nice little scoop to leave on. This has come from a couple of places but people are being very cagey...

They are promising a "shock and awe" rejigging of their online activities in the new year, and tonight TB understands that the not entirely unattractive

Claire Hazelgrove

, 21, the PPC for Skipton and Ripon has been drafted in to jointly organise social media campaigning for the Labour Party. The prolific twitterer is so down with the kids that she even has a

Myspace page

! Other reasons for her employment seem to be she is on twitter and she votes Labour and she isn't as batshit crazy as Kerry.

TB understands that a handful of jobs have been offered and that the new Victoria St employees will be reporting directly to Sue Macmillan, Labour's... wait for it... "New Media Campaigns Taskforce Leader" and supporter of such brilliant campaigns like "

David Camera-on

" a Draper fake twitter account that was err mysteriously silenced, and redesigned. TB is still working on finding out who the other new recruits are.

Three things immediately come to mind about Hazelgrove's appointment. Firstly TB hopes that she has a better grasp of electoral law than she

once had

. She has been in

hot water

for attempting to send money raised in the UK to aid Barack Obama's election campaign, contravening election rules on both sides of the pond. Her flippant attitude at the time did her no favours. TB heard that Claire's involvement with the Obama campaign was a big plus for her getting the job. Though as far as he can tell she had little experience of running anything online and instead spent her time answering phones and

photocopying

in Virgina.

Secondly TB hopes Claire has sorted out her contact book. She was responsible for quite the blunder the other day that sent the labour net-roots into fits of ecstasy when she announced proudly that her sources at ComRes suggested a narrowing of the poll lead to just three points. The poll was announced later that night with a tory lead of 17%. Wounder.

Thirdly what do the voters of Skipton and Ripon feel about their PPC abandoning her campaign to join the party machine? Hazelgrove has been a part time PPC already after leaving university to move to London and her twitter page rarely mentions any reports from the front line.

An early Christmas present for

Julian Smith

then?

Claire Hazelgrove was unavailable for comment.

Is Heather Brooke Jessica Rabbit?

Could have fooled TB.

The Secret Formula

Newspapers hacks are always desperate to show they "get blogging" and all dat web 2.0 jazz. Some do, others really don't.

Paul Waugh

of the Evening Standard knows exactly what he is doing:

He has clearly worked out the mythical balance between politicking, scoops and totty.

Something for the weekend...

TB is going to be in transit for most of the weekend driving back from France, so he will be rather quiet. In the meantime here are some of the long awaited pictures from the

Young America's Foundation

conference in DC a few weeks back. Seems Tory Bear has a whole legion of new fans, including Kate Obenshain of Fox News fame...

American girlies, if you fancy coming to the

Young Britons' Foundation

conference in October then you should probably take a look at

this

.

Get writing those essays if you want to see see the bear again...

Good Morning, it's polling day...

Aaah haa. TB is very sorry he didn't make it up to Norwich for the by-election campaign but by all accounts it has been a solid effort. Best of luck to Chloe Smith who looks set to be returned as the new member. Looking

at this

reminded TB of about this time last year when he and a few others were in Henley for that campaign, and polling day was particularly fun:

If anyone comes up with something better this morning in Norwich then send in the pics...

Guest Post - Top 10 Sexiest Male MPs

TB commented last week that with the state of the Blair Babes 12 years on, it was no surprise that the UK didn't do too well in the rankings of the worlds sexiest female politicians. This however upset Tory Bear's favourite lefty feminist Gabi Jones, from the Women of the World organisation. TB has clashed with Gabi in the past,

very publicly

in the letters section of a student paper over the old "Life's better under a conservative" poster. So for the sake of sexual equality and what not, TB will let Gabi brighten up your Tuesday morning with a round up of the UK's sexiest male politicians...


As a long-time reader of Tory Bear, I am very excited to have been invited to compile a list of the top ten sexiest British male politicians. For a long time I have been criticised for my dreadful taste in men – something I fervently dispute – but with such an attractive lot representing us, this list is filled with the best of British.

1. Ed Vaizey – Conservative, MP for Wantage & Didcot

Rolling in at number 1 is the Adonis of Westminster, 40 year old Ed Vaizey. After seeing Ed’s numerous appearances on The Wright Stuff, I have fallen for his undeniable charm and charisma. Ed looks good in a suit, has a gorgeous voice and a slight receding hairline – what more could you actually want? I just wish I lived in his constituency. Sigh.

2.

Adam Afriyie – Conservative, MP for Windsor

In terms of justifying my choice, I think this amazing photo is reason enough. Body-wise, Mr Afriyie is the Elle McPherson of male politicians. I’d go running with him any day.

3. David Cameron – Conservative, MP for Witney

I appreciate this is turning into a bit of a Tory-fest but maybe life is better on top of a Conservative? Tory leader David is confident, powerful and arrogant – AKA very, very sexy. However, it’s clear whenever DC is with his wife Samantha and their children that he is caring, compassionate and quite a nice guy. Shame he’s married…

4. Daniel Hannan – Conservative, MEP for South East England

Never having heard of Daniel before his infamous attack on Gordon Brown in Strasbourg, I am putting him high up at number 4 completely for that speech. Good public speaking is always a turn-on and Daniel’s eloquence, presence and anger combined make him a very desirable man – at least on YouTube. Some might say he’s going a bit bald but I think on the right man, a bit of thinning on top can actually look quite good and Daniel certainly pulls it off. Did I mention that speech?

5. Adrian Ramsay – Green, Deputy Party Leader

Okay, maybe I’m cheating slightly because Adrian isn’t actually elected to parliament yet, but it looks likely to happen in the near future. Finally, a left-winger to add to this list! Adrian is young, handsome and joined the Green Party at just 16. Set to unseat Charles Clark in the next election, Adrian might make Westminster that bit more attractive. My leftist heart is beating fast.

6. Jeremy Hunt – Conservative, MP for South West Surrey

And we’re back to the Tories – I think I might be flattering the egos of quite a few TB readers here… Mr Hunt is another politician with a divine receding hairline; add his language skills and charity work to that… Well, you just would. Apparently Jeremy runs regular surgeries with his constituents; I might just move to Farnham.

7. David Lammy – Labour, MP for Tottenham

David Lammy doesn’t exactly scream sexy, but he’s got something about him. Not too good at general knowledge, I’m guessing that his strengths lie elsewhere…

8. George Osborne – Conservative, MP for Tatton

He’s arrogant as they come and I really should dislike him, but George Osborne is yet another Tory that I find myself extremely attracted to. Maybe I should concede defeat to my lust for Tories and sign up? On second thoughts…

9. Tobias Ellwood – Conservative, MP for Bournemouth East

Tobias has this, ‘I raised lions and lived in Africa for a long time’ Born Free-ness about him. Actually, he was born in New York and raised in Austria; always a fan of well-travelled men, I definitely approve of this. I’m also a big admirer of the receding hairline / thick head of hair combination.

10. William Hague – Conservative, MP for Richmond

Admittedly, Mr Hague isn’t exactly a looker, but he does have the sexiest voice in Westminster and for that alone he deserves a spot in my top ten. What I would give to have him whisper in my ear.

This list is overwhelmingly leaning to the right, okay; I admit I have a thing for Tories. Maybe it’s their infuriating politics? I think my friends were definitely justified in buying me one of TB’s own ‘I kissed a Tory… and I liked it’

t-shirts

for my birthday…

You can follow Gabi on Twitter

here

.

Looks like Guido had a good day...

More on the "Save the Pub" campaign

here

.

McCain's daughter...

Meghan McCain, potential first daughter,

blogger

and hotty has promised to get a tattoo should her father win...

Suggestions on a postcard...

Tears, real tears of laughter....

Why does TB get the impression those words did not come from "Keeley"?

Hat-Tip -

Mr Eugenides

Young, fun and... Republican?

If you think young Tories in this country get a bit of stick for the old YC memories, spare a moment's thought for the young Republicans who are battling the fact that Obama has brainwashed their entire generation... Well almost all of them:

"A lot of people my age don't have a grasp on what's going on in the world," said a 22 year-old seating attendant who wished to remain nameless (attendants were not supposed to talk politics to guests). "It might be appealing to have the government try and bail out poor people, but that's not the way the government works. It might be appealing to get out of Iraq, but that's not the way war works. It might be appealing to have the government fix schools, but that's not the way education works. McCain is talking in practical terms, and it's time young people got more practical."

Baring in mind this came from the ever irritating

Huffington Post

, it isn’t likely to be the most balanced of views on the young Republican movement, but the rest of the article is well worth a read.

Word from TB’s friends who recently spent a lot of time in the company of Young Republicans painted a different picture. It seems that the press across the pond are as unfair as certain attacks CF has to put up with…

Classic line at the end of this video:

Seems they have some hotties...

Tories + Cocktails =

(click to enlarge)

So to Mahiki for the YBF summer party...

A solid effort to those early birds who managed to burn through the promised free cocktails in just 20 minutes.

TB is tired and still fairly hungover.

Come back tomorrow for more pictures and the gossip...

Cheers Zac...

And so to Richmond for Zac Goldsmith's summer party. Despite being billed as one of the top CF events of the summer sadly Zac neither sunk a Pitcher nor played the Piano as the venue promised.

Tory Bear can't help but laugh at despite the fact the PPC for Richmond is worth some £300m he still smokes rollies! Achingly trendy!

Seems Mr Goldsmith was quite the hit with the ladies this evening too... Another CF bottle opener up for grabs for the best caption to the photo above posted in the comments section...

Congratulations are also in order to CFs in house impersonator Mr Max Litwenik - recently renamed "Max Lit" (- any relation to Tony?) Max's Facebook status yesterday said he was "attending the richmond drinks tomorrow mainly for the free liquor"

It seems he made the most of it too:

Good lad.