Thatcherite Letwin goes to ground

The political rumour mill is pointing the finger firmly at rising star Oliver Letwin for the Conservatives' current tax turmoil.

Pundits believe it was the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury who briefed the Financial Times that a Tory government would cut taxes by £20bn - not just the £8bn proposed by leader William Hague - over the first two years of the next parliament.

Let Letwin speak. We should free the Dorset One

Gordon Brown

Mr Letwin, MP for Dorset West since 1997, has been conspicuously unavailable for comment since the story was published, and denied by the Conservative hierarchy, on Monday.

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, taunted the Tories over Mr Letwin's low profile at Labour's Tuesday news conference, saying: "Let Letwin speak. We should free the Dorset One!"

Radical wing

But Conservative leader William Hague said later that he had full confidence in Mr Letwin.

He insisted that he had been told "authoritatively" that the West Dorset MP was not the source of the £20bn figure.

The controversy may embarrass Mr Hague during a tense election campaign but - as a member of the radical wing of the Tory party - promoting tax cuts would be a natural instinct for Mr Letwin.

He has a strong Thatcherite background and has risen quickly up the ranks.

After teaching at Cambridge, Mr Letwin worked in Mrs Thatcher's policy unit in Downing Street between 1983 and 1986.

He has described himself as "a radical Thatcherite" and a devout admirer of the former prime minister.

Widely admired within the party, he is regarded as both an intellectual and modest. He is a member of the right-wing No Turning Back group.

A member of the Conservative Party since 1982 when he was 26, Mr Letwin served as special adviser to then-education secretary Sir Keith Joseph before moving on to Downing Street.

Privatising the world

He first ran for office in the 1987 general election, unsuccessfully fighting Labour's Diane Abbott in London's Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

He believes in tight monetarist policies and in 1988 published an article calling for the NHS to be turned into an independent trust and for the private sector to have a greater role in the delivery of healthcare.

As if to confirm those credentials, he published a book that same year entitled Privatising the World.

Versus Hague

He was once earmarked to contest the seat currently held by party leader William Hague.

In 1988, he was said to be Mrs Thatcher's preferred candidate to replace Sir Leon Brittan in Yorkshire's Richmond constituency. But the local party thought differently.

Oliver Letwin contested the Hampstead and Highgate seat for the Conservatives in the 1992 general election, and stoutly defended the poll tax. He lost out to Labour.

Working in Mrs Thatcher's policy unit, Mr Letwin had played a key role in drawing up the ill-fated policy. He defended the tax as a "completely misunderstood phenomenon".

Safe seat

In 1997, he stood in the safe Tory seat of Dorset West and fought off a strong swing to the Liberal Democrats.

Within a year of entering parliament, he was appointed party spokesman on constitutional affairs and has shadowed the Cabinet post of chief Treasury secretary since 1999.

He has spoken out strongly on education and farming issues and, as an ardent eurosceptic, has criticised what he perceives is the move towards a federal Europe.