He’s an Arsenal fan, he likes house music and he’s only This, no doubt, is one of the reasons why he and a number of other MPs are at Central Hall in Westminster today to engage in “speed-dating” with some future voters. He joined the Government as Assistant Whip in December Before entering Parliament in , he was Head of Corporate Planning at the BBC and then worked as a special adviser on culture, media, sport and the knowledge economy for the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, from to His partner is filmmaker Lucy Walker.

Pre-Parliament While still a student he worked in the summer holidays as a researcher to Tony Blair from to

Among the other highest bidders, was speed demon, Stephen Clarke, who is now the proud owner of the World Record Setting mph Caterham R New home for Caterham pace ace Rev up for.

And in more than one sense, too. I have an admission to make – my encounters at speed dating events have been occasionally fantastic, often tragic. But one question can always be relied on to come up: And I soon realised two things: There was a ‘comfort’ option; buckets cooler As if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s my more literal ‘speed date’ – an appointment with a TT Mk1 around Silverstone. Quick in a straight line the TT undoubtedly is, but its charisma as a corner-meister is sorely bypassed.