Thatcher’s long shadow over Tory Party

THERE’S a feisty chick lit author, the Muslim son of a bus driver and a swashbuckling ex-diplomat who braved the Taliban to hike across Afghanistan alone.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron’s crop of new candidates are a group of young, multiethnic professionals who he hopes can shed the Tories’ image as a “nasty party” stuffed with rich, aging white men from privileged backgrounds.

The aspiring legislators vow to stir up Britain’s sometimes staid politics, and perhaps unsettle their leadership – with hardline views on Europe, immigration and climate change that often don’t stack up with Cameron’s message of a more compassionate, greener conservatism.