Dougie Smith

Dougie Smith was appointed principal speechwriter to David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party and is a leading moderniser. He previously ran C-Change the Tory think tank set up by Francis Maude. Smith is in his mid 40's and not to be confused with Tory supporter and long time lobbyist Douglas Smith.

Fever Parties

A SENIOR Tory strategist revealed yesterday that he leads a double life as Britain's leading organiser of upmarket sex parties. By day Dougie Smith, 41, is the respectable co-ordinator of Conservatives for Change (Cchange), the influential Tory think tank whose board members include Theresa May, the Conservative party chairman. It was founded last year by Francis Maude and supporters of Michael Portillo. Archie Norman MP, the former Asda boss, also sits on its board. However, by night Smith runs Fever Parties, a London-based organisation that hosts "five-star" orgies for swingers.

Smith is a well-known figure in Conservative circles. He has acted as an adviser to several senior right-wing figures, including the late Sir James Goldsmith and has written speeches for a number of leading Conservative MPs. He is also a prominent member of the Aspinalls poker set that play for high stakes at the London casino. After becoming involved in Conservative politics while at university, he became vice-chairman of the frequently controversial Federation of Conservative Students. He has also acted as a political adviser to Sir James Mancham, former president of the Seychelles and a well-known playboy.

Committee for a Free Britain

MONDAY'S Daily Telegraph carried a lengthy lament about the ageing and narrow profile of the Con-servative Party by "Conservative activist" Douglas Smith. In essence, it argued that "most Conservative MPs and candidates under 50 come across as soulless, selfish and smug" and that "because very few younger, more normal people become involved, those who remain are increasingly old and atypical". I don't know quite where this leaves Smith himself, who is in his late-30s and whose history of political activism since his teens sets him apart from most normal members of the electorate. In the early Eighties, for instance, he worked for the Adam Smith Institute, the free-market think tank, while pursuing a career in the Federation of Conservative Students as a prominent member of a Right-wing, libertarian faction. Indeed, he was elected in 1985 as an FCS vice-chairman. However, it transpired that his claim to be a student at Napier College was erroneous and his election was declared null and void by Conservative Central Office following an inquiry. Smith's later exploits included being arrested by the police for allegedly threatening to kill FCS member Toby Baxendale, although he was released after spending a night in the cells, and working for Right-wing millionaire David Hart's Committee for a Free Britain - not exactly proof of normality. Even more disingenuously, Smith described himself in his Telegraph article as "a Conservative party member since my teens". Yet he appears to have overlooked the period before the 1997 general election when he joined that rather outlandish outfit, Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party. Surely, not even Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore would consider such behaviour as normal for a Tory.

Affiliations

• C-Change
• Fever Parties

Links

Fever Parties website