Dr Gearson is just what the Tory spin doctors ordered

As a woman under 40, with a state-school background and "lots of gay friends", Vanessa Gearson may not strike the casual observer, let alone voter, as a typical Tory. But when Iain Duncan Smith is coming under fire for failing to change the culture of his party quickly enough, Dr Gearson (she has a PhD in Spanish literature) is a Conservative Central Office spin-doctor's dream.

Recently appointed as the leader's chief of staff, and selected as prospective Parliamentary candidate for Chelten- ham, she has rapidly emerged as the best living proof of Tory modernisation. The Cheltenham Conservative Association chose Mrs Gearson from an all-women shortlist, underlining its reputation for boldness.

But Dr Gearson is quick to point out that the list just happened to feature three women and was not imposed. Women should be selected on merit and merit alone, she says.

"I have an allergic reaction to the concept of Blair's babes and compulsory all-women shortlists. I wouldn't want to have been selected in any job, whether it be a candidacy or professional application, because I was a woman." Dr Gearson also rejects the idea that women voters respond to a "women's agenda" and are more interested in public services that affect them and their families. "The balance of women working with families is possibly the most complex we have to face. But the greater involvement of women in the party, their involvement in strategy, in policy, in campaigning up and down the country will allow us to debate these issues more specifically."

Dr Gearson is a "21st-century Catholic" who believes gays and lesbians should not suffer discrimination and that her party has to catch up with the social changes in the past 50 years.