IN the end it was Tatton Tory association chairman Mark Stocks who looked most relieved.

While he wore a look of bemused exhaustion, George Osborne breezed through his debut appearance with the confidence of an old campaigner.

His first press conference as would-be MP featured all the hallmarks of a seasoned politician. He dodged questions about Neil Hamilton, side-stepped swipes about his recent bid to become Leominster's candidate and noted his respect for Tatton MP Martin Bell.

And when the cameras clicked off and the notebooks were closed, he retained an air of detached dignity.

Flanked by wife Frances he retired to the constituency office for a gruelling series of one on one interviews. Over an hour later, outside the room where the Tories' new hero held court, Mr Stocks admitted the party could finally start looking to the future. He remained surprised by the interest Tatton was generating, across Britain and beyond.

The BBC had contacted him, he revealed, for an interview for the World Service. On the public side of the desk, a TV correspondent filmed a piece to camera, an event which generated excitement - even in an association which has seen its fair share of film crews over the last couple of years.

And then it was my turn. The preceding inquisitors were kindly told their time was up and then I was ushered before the man aiming to recapture what should be the Tories' fifth safest seat in Britain.

No, he apologised, he'd never been to Northwich and he hadn't heard about the subsidence threat but he was aware of Brunner Mond. "It's a company town, isn't it," he said.

He refused to discuss whether it would be harder to win back Tatton if Martin Bell decided to stand again ("it's a hypothetical situation") and said it was down to constituency members to say whether his links with William Hague affected their vote.

And when my time was up, he had no let up. A plate of sandwiches arrived with the news that the next journalists had been put off for a few minutes. It seems Tatton isn't ready to lose the mantle of Britain's most famous constituency just yet.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.