Teenage Tory is so right he's wrong

COLIN BROWN

Chief Political Correspondent

A 14-year-old boy has been threatened with being barred from next week's Tory party conference in Blackpool for being too right-wing.

Justin Hinchcliffe, the son of a lone parent who lives on income support in Bernie Grant's Labour constituency of Tottenham, was hoping to become the youngest representative ever to attend the conference.

But yesterday the president of the Tottenham Conservative Association threatened to withdraw his pass for the conference and throw him out of the party.

Philip Murphie said he was "shocked" by the views expressed by Master Hinchcliffe in the local newspapers. Among his policy pronouncements was a call to close down the local hospital because it was full of old people.

"Tottenham Conservative Association not only completely dissociates itself from the views expressed by Justin Hinchcliffe but we will certainly be reviewing his membership of the Conservative Party," Mr Murphie said.

Master Hinchcliffe's views on the elderly were "outrageous" and Mr Murphie said he would be recommending to the constituency executive committee this weekend that it withdraws his conference pass.

But the teenager, who joined the Conservative Party at the age of 10, and describes himself as to the right of Baroness Thatcher, was unrepentant and, when he was interviewed at his school for BBC radio, he said he was planning to speak in the education debate at Blackpool.

The small community hospital took "millions away from the Government" and very few people used it, he said. "The majority of patients in wards should be in nursing homes. We support the National Health Service. That is why we closed down a number of hospitals in the London area," Master Hinchcliffe added.

The GCSE pupil, whose family receives pounds 85 income support each week and pounds 200 a month in rent from the state, said: "I'd like to be Prime Minister but nobody hands you the keys to Downing Street. You have to fight to get there."