Notting Hill Set

The Notting Hill Set is an informal group of young figures in prominent leadership positions in the Conservative Party, or close advisory positions around the current party leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron.

The term was coined by Derek Conway in 2004, before Cameron became leader.^[1] It was intended to be pejorative, as Conway was one of the 'bed-blockers' preventing the party modernising.^[1] The term is in reference to all of them having lived in Notting Hill, in west London,^[2] although the group's two leading players, Cameron and George Osborne, no longer live in Notting Hill.^[3]

These are its members, according to the Daily Telegraph:^[4]

• David Cameron, Prime Minister
• George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education
• Ed Vaizey
• Nicholas Boles, former Director of Policy Exchange
• Steve Hilton, Director of Strategy at Conservative Campaign Headquarters
• Rachel Whetstone, Hilton's wife and head of Google's Europe division
• Catherine Fall, Cameron's diary secretary

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Marie Woolf; Ben Russell (28 July 2004). "Tory leader put under pressure on three fronts". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-leader-put-under-pressure-on-three-fronts-554701.html. 
2. ^ Nicholas Watt (28 July 2004). "Tory central". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/jul/28/conservatives.uk1. 
3. ^ Katherine Barney (3 March 2006). "The Tory Notting Hill Set sell up and move on; Cameron and his pals quit west London base". The Evening Standard. 
4. ^ "Who are the Notting Hill Set?". The Daily Telegraph. 26 Feb 2006. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1511473/Who-are-the-Notting-Hill-Set.html.