Conservative insiders say the party is enjoying an unexpected boom in youth membership, which has more than doubled from a position of a record low in 1998 when it was just 4,000, to 10,000 and rising today.

Some of the boom could be explained by the Tories’ decision to scrap university tuition fees and top-up fees, but most of the new student members joined before the policy was announced, suggesting that another factor was at play. The Times interviewed new recruits and found many from a staunch Labour or Liberal Democrat background who relished the fact that being a Tory marked them out from the rest of their family and sometimes from the area they grew up in, too.

Party chiefs are particularly proud that they are attracting people other than “Tory Boy”, Harry Enfield’s spotty precocious youth inspired by William Hague, which tended to make the party a figure of fun.

Officials boast that teenage girls are joining, as are young people from ethnic minorities. For the first time in seven years the Tories have a position on the National Union of Students’ national executive and a presence on more than 80 university campuses, compared with 40 two years ago.

The Oxford University Conservative Association now has a record 700 members, higher than the Labour and Liberal Democrats combined. In addition, they have student union sabbatical officers in universities outside their normal comfort zone, such as Southampton and Aberystwyth. In May Laura Jones was elected to the Welsh Assembly at the age of 24.

In contrast, Labour student numbers are going down. Party chiefs attribute this partly to disillusionment among party activists over the war in Iraq, but they also agree privately that domestic policies, such as that on tuition fees, had not helped to galvanise student support.

One new recruit to the Tories, Caroline Hunt, 18, said: “In a way the role of opposition is to be the rebel, so yes it is a bit rebellious. Our lecturers at college are very left wing and they couldn’t believe how many of us were Tories all of a sudden. Out of a small class, eight of us put our hands up and said we were strong Conservatives.

“But I think people are less disapproving of the Conservatives now. It is more acceptable for young people to join them.”

Labour will be horrified by such views. For decades, the party has been used to scooping up the support of the majority of young people and students who traditionally have left-wing views.

The Tories cite their decision to abolish tuition fees, their promise of 20,000 extra rehab places for young addicts of hard drugs, and, with tongue in cheek perhaps, their proposed 80mph speed limit on the motorways as evidence that they are more attuned to young voters.

They will try to capitalise on the surge in support with an extensive tour of university and college campuses this autumn. Two of the party’s more youth-friendly faces, Damian Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, and Steve Norris, the Tory candidate for Mayor of London, will tour the annual freshers’ fairs.

They hope that membership of Conservative Future, the party’s youth wing, will rise again sharply after the campus tours when Mr Green will promote a “No Fees, No Small Print” campaign.

A source at Conservative Central Office said: “Students are now talking about the fact that they are Conservatives, and encouraging others to do the same, rather than us having to coax them out. The whole culture is changing.

“For the first time in years student Tories are ringing us to inquire about conference. They are actually looking forward to it for a change.”

Iain Duncan Smith has been quick to spot the potential power base younger voters could give him. He has instructed staff at Tory HQ to send monthly e-mail newsletters to thousands of schools and voluntary organisations.

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