Jamie is the toast of middle classes

Jamie Oliver is the number one hero of the middle classes, according to a style guide issued today.

His crusade to improve school dinners has made him the idol of parents throughout Britain.

The TV chef heads a top ten of Influences on the Middle Classes published in the Class of 2006 by media agency The Fish Can Sing.

David Cameron is in second place for wooing Middle England to become Tory leader.

And Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, comes third for his influential anti-poverty stance.

The guide, an annual event, reckons that most of Britain is now 'middle class' in one form or another. The major influences all have effects for different reasons, it says, citing Prince Harry in fourth place because of his occasionally bad behaviour.

Frank Lampard is fifth and not just because he plays for Chelsea, possibly the most middle class team in Britain.

He also represents a new breed of footballer and, for the first time in living memory, the country's best player is a former public schoolboy.

Likewise, singer songwriter James Blunt is proof that nice guys can rise to the top.

His songs, like the books of Zadie Smith and Jeremy Vine's show on Radio Two, are among 'must haves' from the shires to the suburbs, says the guide.

Sir Trevor McDonald's calm approach to the news makes him the most popular TV broadcaster to vast swathes of the country, it adds.

Making up the ten is Carol Thatcher, who was successful on I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! because she was one of the few contestants the middle classes had heard of. She is also evidence of how reality TV has become an outlet for posh celebrities with no discernible talent to do anything else, the guide said.

Dan Holliday, director of The Fish Can Sing, said: 'Ultimately, Jamie Oliver is top of the list because of the school dinners campaign which struck a chord with millions of health-conscious parents.'

Here's what the guide says about the top ten:

Jamie Oliver: 'Combination of cheek and unthreatening-ness irresistible. His stranglehold on middle class imagination now strong enough to influence Government policy.'

David Cameron: 'Tony Blair wooed middle classes onto unfamiliar political ground with niceness; Cameron looks like leading them back with Common Sense.'