Tailormade for Tories

In the dark, backward abysm of time, leaders of the Conservative Party were selected by a group of shadowy figures known as 'the magic circle'. The process has since become more transparent, but the influence of a tight-knit group of movers and shakers determined to propel the Tories back into office shouldn't be underestimated.

In days of old, the puppet-masters met in the gentlemen's clubs of St James's, but where do their modern equivalents meet today? On what hallowed ground was David Cameron anointed as the heir apparent to Michael Howard?

The answer may well be the Spencer Arms, a new gastropub on Lower Richmond Road. It's the latest venture of Jamie Sherriff, the restaurateur behind Zucca, the Westbourne Grove Italian that, until recently, was the unofficial headquarters of the Notting Hill Tories. Situated on the edge of Putney Common, the Spencer Arms seems tailormade to appeal to the new breed of touchy-feely Conservatives.

The interior of this Victorian pub has been tricked out with pastel colours and dark wood to produce just that combination of traditional and modern that's likely to appeal to the local middle-class population. There's even a family area where parents can pluck classic works of children's literature from the bookshelves and read them to little Sophia and Fred by an open fire.

There's something rather Cameronesque about the food, too. (Or should that be Cameroonian?) According to one of his closest lieutenants, the next leader of the Conservative Party is never happier than when pottering about in his vegetable garden, and weekend guests at his Oxfordshire constituency house can look forward to full English breakfasts and slap-up roasts.

The chef at the Spencer Arms, Adrian Jones, is a bluff Northerner who describes the British fare he dishes up as 'gutsy' and 'robust'. Not for him the modern Italian cooking pioneered by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Café, which has now become the staple diet of New Labour. The Spencer Arms' menu includes such traditional stomach-fillers as pea soup, sausage and mash with onion gravy and macaroni cheese.

Rather embarrassingly, I opted for the one starter on the menu that seems to have been included as a sop to the pub's metrosexual customers: pear and pecorino salad. However, for my main course, I decided to plunge in at the deep end and went for roast breast of chicken with root vegetables.

Both were outstanding, particularly the chicken breast, and my side order of peas was almost a meal in itself. My wife started with a mixed salad, which she declared 'the best salad I've had in a restaurant in a long time', and
followed with macaroni cheese.

This, too, was way above average. Far from being your usual bowl of leftover macaroni with a bit of grated cheese on top and baked to within an inch of its life, this was more like penne alfredo, with delicious tubes of pasta floating in a light, creamy sauce.

The one major shortcoming of the Spencer Arms is the absence of anywhere to park. At the time of our visit, my wife and I were test-driving a Chrysler Grand Voyager, What Car?'s large MPV of the year, and trying to park it within a 1,000-yard radius proved impossible.