Potts the even younger

DAVID Potts is finding it hard to fit me in. With all the civic functions and committee meetings, the debating and rubber-stamping - not to mention his student coursework - he's a pretty busy man. He has a window on Monday afternoon, before the policy meeting and the school concert, he tells me on the phone, his tone brisk and businesslike, that of someone much older.

The impression is reinforced when we meet on the steps of South Shields Town Hall. At first, I fail to recognise him. Casually dressed in dark trousers, a plain jumper and sensible shoes, he looks far too mature, too... at home.

At 22, David is only just old enough to be a councillor (the minimum age is 21). He stood for election at the earliest opportunity, in June, and took one of two possible seats from the Liberal Democrats in the South Tyneside ward of Cleadon and East Boldon. The other, he tells me proudly, went to a fellow Conservative, giving the party sole representation in the ward.

David admits that had he been able to, he would have stood at 18. "I think the Government is changing the legislation so that 18-year-olds can stand and I probably would have stood then if I could have," he says, then, after a pause: "On reflection, perhaps that wouldn't have been as good an idea as it seemed at the time. Perhaps I was a bit too young."

As a young North-East man, a student, and a Conservative councillor, David is a rarity but if he's unnerved by this, he doesn't let it show. In fact, he exudes confidence and, as we sit in the grand setting of the town hall, he slips easily into politician-speak.

"There's been a socialist hegemony in this country for many years. It's up to me to try and break that, ward by ward. People are genuinely sick, but socialism is so deeply ingrained in places like Jarrow. I've grown up under a Labour government and I suppose I just remember things being better when we were in power. This country has lost a lot of what makes it unique."

He may have been only 14 when Labour came to power, in 1997, but he feels this makes him no less qualified to comment. "I was fairly politically aware, although when you're 14, you can't be as politically aware as when you're 22," he says.

David, who lives with his mother, Joy, in West Boldon, near Sunderland, comes from a typical North-East family of mainly Labour voters. He says: "On paper, I should be a Labour supporter."

He attributes his early interest in Conservatism - and politics in general - to a fellow councillor. "A very good friend of mine, Donald Wood, who's now my co-councillor, got me involved in the Jarrow Conservative Association. He had a fantastic library of books. I used to go round and read them and borrow videos. That really catapulted me into it," he says.

Starting by attending meetings from the age of 17, David became an increasingly active member of the association, participating in the 2001 election campaign. He says: "My aim initially was just to see how much I could help the party, then I realised that if I wanted to help the party the most, I had to become a candidate." The party agreed, and David was duly nominated.

Despite his achievement in being elected, he's keeping a level head about the future. "My ultimate aim is just to get into Parliament. I daren't think any further than that," he says.

Has he ever felt his age a barrier? "I would say that initially, it was. There were certainly some letters in the press saying I was too young and inexperienced," he admits. "Your rivals think you're arrogant. I don't think I'm arrogant. I don't think, for example, that I know nearly as much as a 25-year-old."

This may sound a bit nave, but what David lacks in maturity, he makes up for in conviction. "I genuinely care about the area - I'm not self-serving like some councillors maybe are. I know some very old councillors who are not very good at their jobs," he says, presumably not alluding to Conservative colleagues.

"I really don't think it's about age. This is not rocket science - it's about enthusiasm and learning how to do things in the right way."

Yet he admits that being a councillor is more demanding than he thought. He rises at 5am to cram in the day's work, which might include listening to complaints about anything from drugs to dodgy plumbing, wading through "shed loads" of letters and taking on the opposition in verbal combat. "I was surprised by how intense the work is. I realise now that if you want to go to bed, you've got to switch your phone off," says David.

Despite this, he's taking on a great deal more by standing as the Conservatives' Falkirk West candidate in next year's Parliamentary elections. Party rules in England set the age limit at 25, but David says he's more than happy to be trying for the Scottish seat at Westminster. "It's been one of the best decisions I've made," he says.

If elected, David will become the youngest MP by a significant margin - the youngest member is currently the Liberal Democrats' Sarah Teather at 30.

While accepting that there's a slim chance of this, he says that fighting the campaign is part of his game plan. "I've always said I wanted to get into Parliament before I was 30. You have to go through the process of fighting an opposition-held seat before you are given anything more productive," he says, countering this by adding: "I'm going to fight bloody hard and we have already decided on some of the campaign strategies. I'm taking advice from everyone I know."

Among those offering words of wisdom may be such Conservative heavyweights as Michael Portillo, whom he has met, and Boris Johnson, with whom he has done an internship. David volunteers his own wisdom on the controversial former Spectator editor. "He was very nice - much as you see him on TV. He's a very bright guy. I think people underestimate him. I would like to see him do well."

Another politician he has met, and with whom there is an obvious comparison, is William Hague. Yet, while both began their Conservative careers young, David says the former Prime Minister is not a role model. "I don't have any idols. I don't think it's right to hero-worship people," he says.

What seems clear is that, like any politician who has reached the top, David is extremely single-minded. He admits that his physics degree has suffered and says: "Essentially, all the time I'm not being a student, I'm being a councillor and a Parliamentary candidate."

So what of the boozing and raucous antics so beloved of students? Unsurprisingly, David, who's now in his final year, has little time for them. "I've got some good friends and a nice idea for a night out for us is dinner and a bottle of wine and being tucked up in bed by 11 o'clock. The only things I go to now are civic receptions and the very occasional pint in the pub with my granddad," he says.