Rifkind wins selection as candidate for Kensington

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, began the long road back to Westminster, and possibly Downing Street, last night after he was selected as candidate for the Tory seat of Kensington and Chelsea.

Sir Malcolm will replace Michael Portillo in contesting what is known as Britain's poshest Parliamentary constituency at the next general election.

True to the glitzy image of "K&C", as it is known to locals, it was none other than Shireen Ritchie, mother of the film producer and director Guy Ritchie and mother-in-law to Madonna, who announced the result.

Mrs Ritchie, the chairman of the local Tory association, said Sir Malcolm had been selected in the safe Tory seat on the first round of the ballot of more than 800 party members.

The showbiz theme was underlined by the fact that Andrew Neil, the broadcaster, had been hired to put each of the four shortlisted hopefuls through their paces before the vote.

Mr Neil wasted no time in honing in on the "carpet- bagger" charge that has dogged Sir Malcolm, who lost his seat of Edinburgh Pentlands in the 1997 Labour landslide and failed to win it back in 2001. He recently failed to be selected for Windsor. To applause from some, Mr Neil asked why Sir Malcolm had not stayed in Scotland to rebuild the shattered Tory Partynorth of the border.

Sir Malcolm faltered before pointing out that Pentlands was being abolished by a boundary review. "But they're not abolishing Edinburgh, are they Sir Malcolm?" Mr Neil responded, to laughter from those gathered in Kensington Town Hall. The broadcaster's performance was so impressive that Mrs Ritchie even suggested that he would have made a wonderful MP.

Mr Neil went easier on the other candidates, in deference to their lack of experience. Nick Hurd, the son of another former foreign secretary, Lord Hurd, impressed, as did young local councillor Mary Weale. Warwick Lightfoot, a former aide to Lord Lamont, was the least impressive, observers said.

Afterwards, two of the younger members of the association, Paula-Ann Hawkins and her friend Christina Barton, were both impressed by the youthful Ms Weale. "The average age in there was about 70. You could say Mary has youth on her side and she is so good she has time to get another seat. You could say that he [Sir Malcolm] had age on his side tonight," Ms Hawkins said.

Mr Portillo was reticent after the result, hurrying off with his wife, Caroline. "It seems a very clear result and that is excellent," was all he would say.

Although Sir Malcolm won more than half the votes on the first ballot, there was clearly a sizeable minority of members who felt stung by the experience of selecting another former Cabinet minister, only to see him disappear when he became bored of politics. When he returned to the platform for his speech of thanks, only "around 55 per cent" of the audience gave him a standing ovation, one insider said.

Sir Malcolm admitted that he had been "terrified" by the grilling he received from Mr Neil. "There was no mercy shown and that was absolutely right and proper," he said.

But when asked repeatedly if he now felt he would return to the Tory frontbench, he simply replied that he would concentrate on being a local candidate.

Five years younger than Michael Howard, the 57-year-old former MP still has time to fulfil his ambition of becoming Tory leader. If Mr Howard stands aside after the next election, Sir Malcolm even become Prime Minister in 2009, aged 63.

* Ann Winterton, MP for Congleton, was sacked from the Parliamentary Conservative Party yesterday after publicly joking about the deaths of the Chinese cocklers who drowned at Morecambe Bay earlier this month. Michael Howard said he was withdrawing the whip from Mrs Winterton after she refused to apologise and withdraw her comments made during an after-dinner speech. She reportedly referred to two sharks who were sick of eating tuna and so one said: "Let's go to Morecambe for a Chinese."