Toby Young's schoolboy letter to Harry Phibbs: women aren't "equipped with the ability to discuss things"

Up to now, the obvious link between Toby Young, leading light of the West London Free School, and Harry Phibbs, a leading Tory councillor in Hammersmith, has been that Phibbs's partner sits on the free school's steering committee.

But it transpires that their relationship actually spans nearly three decades, from the time when Young, then a sixth-former, wrote Phibbs a self-promoting letter of wildly sexist, right-wing loopiness in a style which owes much to that of Adrian Mole.

Young clearly felt his sentiments would strike a chord with the bumptious Young Conservative. Phibbs's reply is not known.

The original letter - from which the above quote is taken - can be read here. An edited, typed-up version is here.

The grown-up Young takes a more mature approach to self-promotion. Here he is equipped with his book.