SEX, POLITICS AND THE TORIES
Jasper Gerard discovers that the
opposition has a new secret weapon — Hague's Babes
THERE used to be a poster, plastered across every student union, depicting a deli- cious young lovely in a state of improbable euphoria straddled by a geeky guy in a blaz- er. The caption read `Life's better under a Conservative'. I am not qualified to adjudi- cate on the sexual boast implicit in this slo- gan but it contained an unintentional truth: that, in the Conservative party, the man is on top (the kinky experiment with Margaret Thatcher aside). Now, finally, there are signs that young Tory women are considered worthy of a big- ger role than mere partners for the college ball or mixed doubles. While William Hague is pleased with the success of his aggressive assaults on the Prime Minister, he realises that the Tory image needs to be feminised. Step forward Hague's Babes. The term `babes' is used more loosely in politics than in nightclubs, as that snap of Tony Blair with his army of female MPs demonstrated (all in a uniform of red mixed-fibre trouser snits). When Tess ICingham, one of four `Blair Babes' not seeking re-election, retires, she will not be troubling the Storm modelling agency with her CV. Carrie Ruxton, 33, is an altogether more appetising morsel. The Tory candidate for Northavon outraged buffers in her associa- tion when it emerged that she was pregnant and — hold on to your pacemakers unmarried. Wiser brains point out that you don't find crumpet this good knocking around at the cake stall. A keen internal debate has ensued as to whether Central Office should highlight her candidature. 'In Hague's desperate rush to select attractive women, he forgot a key ingredient — that the candidate should be Conservative,' says one Tory observer. Indeed, Carrie joined the Conservatives in 1997 — before that she was a Liberal Democrat — and is to the left of the party. Outrageous as this might seem to traditionalists, her lack of Tory roots might be her very appeal. 'The Tories received a kicking in 1997, but defeat really changes a party,' she tells me. 'I don't think any political party is perfect but I was very impressed after meeting William Hague, even though I wasn't sure about him before.' As for the charge of using her sexual allure, she pleads guilty: 'You use what you have got. A lot of politics is about image.' No such controversy surrounds Anne Mil- ton. She is the prospective candidate of Archie Norman's wet dreams: attractive, married and an. employee of the NHS. As for future heavyweights, the smart money is on Theresa Villiers, 32, who topped the London regional list to become an MEP. A high-powered barrister and lecturer, she is likely to be parachuted into a winnable seat. Another is the handsome Baroness Bus- combe, party vice-chairman and Hague con- fidante. She runs Conservative Network, which aims to increase the number of Tory professional women, and is at the centre of a Babette clique of formidable City types.
Carrie Ruxton: 'You use what you have got.'
As for women already in Parliament, Hague has few to play with. Julie Kirkbride, the delectable Member for Bromsgrove, is certainly more diligent than her permanent- ly tanned husband, Andrew Mackay, MP. Kirkbride has the potential to be the next Virginia Bottomley, but so far Hague has only promoted Madames Widdecombe, Browning and May. Theresa May's appoint- ment to the shadow Cabinet hints at desper- ation. (John Redwood once collected her press releases, so amusingly fatuous did he find them.) That said, Hague can boast that he has given women serious portfolios, unlike Blair, as the curious case of Mo Mowlam illustrates.
Hormones are Hague's biggest problem, at least when it comes to persuading women to stand. The charming and aristocratic Lizzie Knowle, who fought a valiant cam- paign against Blair in Sedgefield last time, has decided to spend more time making a family despite the leader's personal plea for her to fight again. The other problem is fusty selection committees. Tim Collins, the party's vice-chairman, has attempted to enforce an unofficial rule that each shortlist should contain one woman. But so far, of 19 Tory-held seats where the incumbent is standing down, not one has selected a woman. This is why the leadership is so keen that Anne Milton be chosen to replace Charles Wardle in Bexhill and Battle. Milton is down to the last three and a decision is anticipated by the end of the week.
Still, there are promising women in key marginals, noticeably Battersea, where Lucy Shersby, daughter of the late MP Michael Shersby, is considered to be as able as she is right-wing. It will also not be long, insiders predict, before Natalie Evans (head of eco- nomic research and Michael Portillo's portable brain) and the scrumptious Patricia Morris are found safe seats. However, such female talents are rare in a party still domi- nated by the ethos of the Rotary Club. `Labour women are politicised, whereas when we recruit young women they are keener on the social side than on the thun- der of debate,' says a senior figure.
Hague's solution is Conservative Future, combining the old youth and student wings. According to a Central Office document, this has a huge task: 'There has been no recruitment of young people for a genera- tion. The party has relied upon young peo- ple coming to us. As a result, youth membership has fallen considerably over the past 20 years.' Conservative Future has been ordered to recruit 30,000 new mem- bers. So far, it is averaging 2,000 a year. How many have been lured by Hague's `commonsense revolution' is debatable: it organises Kbar discos and comedy nights. One of its leaders is Katherine Kelsey, whose papa is a butcher from Stepney. Now I a law student at Oxford, she admits the party seems daunting. 'I didn't do a Hague at 16, she says. 'Even a councillor seemed like a celebrity when I joined at 16. But I would not want to be in a party that promot- ed you purely because you are a woman.'
Another model performer on the execu- tive is the self-styled 'clotcom babe', Hannah Parker, 26. She recently marched the execu- tive up the Ml for a meeting. Hague-ite mis- sion statements were followed by a visit to Alton Towers and dancing at a local pub. `Babe, girl, bird, you can call me what you like,' she says. 'In the party I have come across chivalry but not chauvinism. I think the discrimination now is against men.'
It is rare talents such as these that Hague needs to encourage, while putting pressure on associations to select women who are smart as well as cute. One little irony: if a number of Hague Babes are elected, they will win a lot of marginals — most of them held by Blair Babes.
Jasper Gerard is an associate editor of The Spectator.
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