THE birthday present to end them all could be on the cards for Douglas Carswell. For if his hunch is correct, as he turns 30 he will get the chance to tackle the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for his Sedgefield constituency.

If the next general election is on May 3, 2001, that is how this Londoner will spend his special day.

And he couldn't be happier.

"I'm hoping it will be on that day, my 30th birthday," he said. "Of course only Mr Blair knows when the election will be, but whenever it is, we'll be ready."

Mr Carswell is the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Sedgefield.

His challenge to the Prime Minister in many ways mirrors the tussle which will be going on across the border in Richmond.

There, Labour political activist Fay Tinnion - also from London and also aged under 30 - aims to wrest the safe Tory seat from Conservative Party leader William Hague.

Mr Carswell thinks his task is entirely achievable. He is definitely in it to win.

So how does a man born in London and now living in Kent come to be facing a northern challenge which is daunting, to say the least?

"I never set out to stand against Tony Blair," he says, "but I did want to fight a seat in the North. In fact, I applied to Hartlepool, Stockton and Hull but it so happened Sedgefield selected me first.

"That said, I am delighted to have been chosen as PPC for Sedgefield as it is a fantastic opportunity to really highlight the gap between what Tony Blair promised us in 1997 and what his government has failed to deliver for his own constituents."

He also wanted to be "as far from the M25 as possible", somewhere he could show the difference and fight a campaign on the premise that Labour has not delivered on promises made to its traditional voters.

"I feel very buoyant and quietly confident," he said.

One morale-booster was his visit to the recent Sedgefield Show.

"I have to be honest, it was an incredibly positive reaction. We got a really warm welcome," he said.

"A lot of people said to me: 'I voted Labour and always have but they have not delivered.' We have everything to gain here."

Mr Carswell finds it interesting that Messrs Blair and Hague are in neighbouring constituencies but says the dynamics involved are very different.

"On one hand you have someone the media has liked and who has been given a fairly easy ride and who many people supported at the last election and who has not delivered," he says.

"Across the border in Yorkshire you have someone who has persevered and stuck to his guns and who is now coming across as increasingly convincing.

"In Sedgefield there is disillusionment and in Richmond there is a man who is gaining in credibility on the back of common sense."

What about issues?

Mr Carswell intends to focus on things like why many local post offices are closing or being threatened with closure.

He will be spotlighting health and education.

He is also taking a tough line on the outcry over petrol prices.

"If you have a high duty on fuel, rural communities are bound to feel they are being penalised. It is another example of how Labour policies are to the disadvantage of the electorate," he says.

Getting into the community is high on the agenda.

Mr Carswell spent last weekend looking at possible homes in the area.

"I look forward to making my home base in Sedgefield," he says.

He pledges that his campaign will be fought on local issues, backed by a supportive local Conservative association.

"If you are prepared to listen and ask the right questions and not just do all the talking, then people will accept you," he said.

"One man told me he had always voted Labour but that now he felt abandoned.

"I have done quite a bit of homework and for me it will be a question of listening to the people. I am on a listening curve and have only just begun.

"I don't claim to be an expert on the area. Far from it."

So what makes this man tick?

He says he only became a "political anorak" quite recently.

As a student at Charterhouse school, he had far too many other interests to keep him busy. He played rugby and was keen on fencing.

"It has really only been in the past few years that my interest in politics grew to the point where I became active."

He says he is a Tory because he believes in freedom for individuals and in an independent Britain.

"That means living under our own Parliament and making our own laws," he says.

"New Labour is not sure what it stands for and is wildly out of touch with the public. The Conservative party is the one standing up for the nation state, to be in Europe but not run by Europe, and that is the principle I will be communicating to the people of Sedgefield at the next election."

Friends who know he is challenging Mr Blair have been extremely supportive.

"I have had lots of offers of help and I will be following them up," he says.

On paper, Douglas Carswell is the underdog in this contest.

But he insists that in Sedgefield today, it is his famous opponent who has the credibility problem.

"He might have had a massive majority in 1997, but that was on the back of promises which have not been kept," he said. "And the people of Sedgefield are feeling the effects of that.

"I am convinced we stand a chance and it's not bravado when I say we have everything to gain.

"I am in this to win this. I am not under any illusion it will be easy but it can be done."

Mr Blair had a majority of 25,000 at the last election with 71pc of the vote. The Tory candidate polled 8,000, 18pc.

"It's a tough call but it's not over until the last vote is counted," says Mr Carswell