Mr Osborne was the driving force behind the Tory leader’s speech on the British way

Mr Osborne was the driving force behind the Tory leader’s speech on the “British way” in which he advocated “brassiness” over “warm beer” and supported the idea of proposing an English Parliament – rather than concentrating on issues such as health and education – at the Conservative Party conference.Mr Hague spends most of his time at Central Office and so needs a trustworthy spy in the Commons. Central Office insiders say Mr Hague trusts the judgement of his youthful adviser “implicitly”, although some Tories think he lacks the populist touch. Mr Hague believes this is as effective a way to psyche himself up as practising verbal punches against Tony Blair. Mr Coe is the gateway to the Tory leader, vetting who he meets and deciding which engagements he should attend, but he leaves the finer political details to others.Most of Mr Hague’s speeches are written by George Osborne, the 28-year- old heir to the Osborne & Little wallpaper empire.

He nursed Douglas Hogg through the BSE crisis as special adviser to the then agriculture minister and coached John Major through the disastrous 1997 election campaign. “They’re very close.” The gold medallist puts Mr Hague through his paces at the gym and has trained him in judo. Every Wednesday, the two men prepare for Prime Minister’s Questions by throwing each other to the ground. He took the blame for the disastrous baseball cap photocall and the decision to try to make Hague look trendy at the Notting Hill Carnival. The Tory leader has made sure Mr Duncan does not have time to be a spin doctor by putting him in charge of real doctors as one of the party’s health spokesmen.Now Mr Coe is the Tory leader’s closest ally.

He is more than a political adviser: he is a “personal life trainer” “He goes everywhere with William,” one insider said. It was telling that Mr Hague did not defend the former Olympic athlete’s political nous or intellectual ability, but simply replied sternly: “Seb’s my mate.”
Alan Duncan may have known Hague longer – the two men shared a house together after graduating – but the MP for Rutland and Melton has been edged out of the inner circle. The Tory leader’s “kitchen Cabinet” has changed slightly since he took over the party but it remains a tight-knit, at times defensive – and exclusively male – clique. Meetings in Mr Hague’s white-walled office in Smith Square are full of the sort of banter which would not be out of place in a public school locker room; members of the inner circle compete to suggest the best joke for speeches. Mr Hague knows he has many enemies on his own benches and has therefore surrounded himself with a small group of like-minded people he knows he can trust. Lord Parkinson, the former Conservative Party Chairman, once advised the Tory leader to distance himself from Sebastian Coe, his right- hand man. Other prospects for promotion are Liam Fox, Gary Streeter and Peter Ainsworth.David Curry, who quit his shadow cabinet post in protest at Mr Hague’s Euro-sceptic stance, will also be invited back on to the front bench if he agrees to tone down his enthusiasm for joining the single currency..

EVER SINCE his election as Tory leader, William Hague has been criticised for relying on a small circle of young, inexperienced men, writes Rachel Sylvester, Political Editor. He fears that if he waits until after elections to reshuffle his team the move could be perceived as a response to a poor showing. The Conservative leader has come under fire from members of his party for failing to make the most of Labour discomfort over the resignations of Peter Mandelson and Geoffrey Robinson before Christmas.He wants to find the right members for a new “attacking” team who are not associated with the “sleaze” of the last government and are effective on TV.Few of the last Tory cabinet are likely to survive the reshuffle but Mr Hague is wary of wholesale sackings, for fear of a backlash from within the party.Sir Norman Fowler, the shadow home secretary, is likely to be a casualty of the reshuffle, as is Andrew Mackay, the Northern Ireland spokesman dubbed “absent Andrew” because he was in South Africa when the historic peace agreement was signed.Michael Howard may keep his foreign affairs job for the time being, after press speculation last week forced Mr Hague to issue a denial that he was about to be sacked. I would like an apology as I happen to be one of them.”William Hague wants to reshape the front bench shortly before the elections to the European parliament in June. “Ann Widdecombe is really popular with the public and we want some more of that.”But the Tories’ attempts to develop an image as a party for career women as well as housewives was dealt a blow last week by Tory frontbencher Nick Gibb, who shocked MPs by calling Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo a “stupid woman” in the Commons chamber.Mr Gibb was forced to withdraw the remark and told to apologise by the Speaker, Betty Boothroyd, who told Mr Gibb: “You have insulted half the population with your remark about stupid women. He is worried that people like Michael Howard are still seen by the public as “the former home secretary” and have failed to cultivate a new style.”The problem is that nobody knows who the Conservative shadow cabinet are.

Apart from Hague and Widdecombe there is no recognition value,” said one aide. (Ms Kirkbride’s husband, Bracknell MP Andrew Mackay, may face demotion.)The Conservative leader has also let it be known that Angela Browning, the former minister who resigned as Tory education spokesman last year to look after her autistic son, could have a shadow cabinet position if she wants it.Mr Hague, as part of his efforts to give his party a more caring image, wants to get rid of MPs who are closely associated with the last government. Several of “Hague’s babes”, including Theresa May, who is tipped for a seat in the shadow cabinet, Jacqui Lait, who won Piers Merchant’s Beckenham seat following his resignation in 1997 after an affair with a 17-year- old nightclub hostess, and Caroline Spelman, are being tipped for inclusion.
Aides to Mr Hague are worried that Labour, which has far more women in key political posts than the Conservatives, is regarded by the public as the party of women.Yet the growing popular appeal of Ann Widdecombe, the Tory health spokesman, has convinced Mr Hague that he must search for more able women and integrate them into his team.Other women tipped for promotion are Eleanor Laing, who was a special adviser to ministers during the last government, and Julie Kirkbride, the former journalist who is regarded as a good television performer by the Tory leadership. But he said he welcomed its challenge.”It will stop us from getting lazy Any competition is good and we can learn from it.”. WILLIAM HAGUE is planning to promote several women to the Tory front bench in a symbolic “break with the past” designed to show voters that his party is no longer dominated by middle-aged men.