Pizzas galore!

He is known to be keeping a close eye on Fox, potentially his biggest rival. Privately there is no love lost between the two men.

John Redwood, another rightwinger and the former Welsh secretary, refused to rule himself in or out on Friday. But “the Vulcan” may be considered too extreme by most of his colleagues.

Rifkind, who returns to the Commons in the safe seat of Kensington and Chelsea, refused to be drawn on his intentions, merely saying it would be some months before the race kicked off. An Edinburgh lawyer, he was one of the few Conservatives to come out against the Iraq war. But to many he would be seen as yet another caretaker leader rather than a trailblazer.

Some insiders hope Howard is playing a clever game to ensure that David Cameron, the 38-year-old MP for Witney and Conservative party policy co-ordinator, is lined up later this year as the “Blair of the Tory party”.

He is one of the leaders of the so-called Notting Hill set, a close-knit group of thirty-somethings intent on dragging the party into the 21st century.The election result has strengthened their resolve.

Most share privileged backgrounds and the liberal attitudes prevalent in the cafe society of London W11.

With Cameron at the heart of the group is George Osborne, the shadow chief secretary. They are often compared to the young Blair and Gordon Brown.

Both were given high- profile media roles during the election while more senior colleagues, including several shadow cabinet members, were relegated to obscurity. It has rankled: the Notting Hill set are not universally popular.

“Some of them are okay as individuals,” said one MP. “But as a group they exude the kind of smugness that has lost the Tory party so much support since the 1980s.”

There are also social and ideological differences within the group itself. As their influence has risen, so has their mutual suspicion.

Cameron has a classic Tory background: Eton, Oxford and special adviser at the Treasury. His father-in-law is a landed baronet, Sir Reginald Sheffield. But he has a genuine concern with issues of poverty. Many previously suspicious observers warmed to the young MP as he talked movingly on BBC Question Time about his oldest child, Ivan, who is severely disabled.

Osborne also has a patrician background. His father, Sir Peter, is a baronet. His wife Frances is the daughter of Lord Howell, the former cabinet minister.

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