A toff and an everyman: The new Tory model

In the meritocratic 21st century, establishment breeding and the education of the social elite are often seen as a bar to the highest reaches of British politics. David Cameron has all these things - Eton and Oxford, forebears in Parliament and a distant family link to the Queen.

Yet he has worked tirelessly to downplay any image of a Tory "toff", to become the first Eton-educated Tory leader since Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

On the one hand, he presents himself as confident, assured but nevertheless a regular bloke, as happy listening to The Smiths and downing a pint as he is in any other social setting.

On the other, he frequents Whites, the exclusive Mayfair gentlemen's club that has only recently begun admitting woman members.

To those who criticise his background, Cameron has a ready reply: he has spent nights sleeping on hospital floors because of his severely disabled son, Ivan. With an easy, direct charm and engaging manner, he has the ability to cast off some of his social skin.

He is a fan of Top Gear and listens to guitar bands - his favourite album is The Queen is Dead by The Smiths.

In his spare time he grows vegetables - once entering a giant marrow and home-grown garlic in the local show, and is photographed on his literature with his wife Samantha, playing with his daughter Nancy.

In politics he has managed to surround himself with a young team of modernisers, people prepared to stuff leaflets - student politic-style - under doors at 5am, and has exhibited the crucial "stardust" needed to propel his leadership bid to success.

Yesterday, Cameron made a bid for green credentials by cycling into central London on his mountainbike.

"I tried to make a start this morning by biking to work," he joked as he made his acceptance speech. "That was a carbon-neutral journey, until the BBC sent a helicopter following me."

David Cameron was born on October 9, 1966, in London, the son of a stockbroker. He left Eton with top grades in all subjects, and went to Oxford. He has refused to say whether his student activities included drugs.

Cameron, 39, has spent most of his adult life in the inner workings of Westminster, and once admitted: "I have this terrible CV".

His first-class Oxford degree led directly to a job in the Conservative research department. He became special adviser to then-Chancellor Norman Lamont and can be seen lurking behind his old boss in his famous television statement on Black Wednesday - no doubt an image that will be used against him.

He was special adviser to then-Home Secretary Michael Howard before spending seven years as director of corporate affairs for Carlton Communications.

He won the safe seat of Witney, Oxfordshire, in 2001 and within weeks was promoted to a front-bench role. Michael Howard made him a trusted member of his inner circle, responsible for party policy, and the key figure writing much of the party's 2005 election manifesto.

Cameron jokes that he believes in an all-inclusive party - one that even someone from his background can join. Time will tell whether the new Leader of the Opposition can make Tories comfortable in their own skin.

- INDEPENDENT