Two months after ditching the monkey suit, Hartlepool's directly-elected mayor, Stuart Drummond, is getting into the job. Adrian Worsley asks him how his life has changed.

A GLANCE at the gallery of former mayor's portraits in the bowels of Hartlepool Civic Centre illustrates perfectly why Stuart Drummond represents a new world order in local politics.

The standard image usually entails heavy-framed specs, Bobby Charlton hair-dos and the kind of sideburns that require planning permission.

But Drummond is something different. He looks to all the world like he's a rather older work experience kid caught unawares in a world of 1970s civic formalities, ornamental maces and lunch meetings.

He doesn't have the established patter and mannerisms of a career politician, which is, after all, exactly why this 28-year-old is the one sitting in the mayor's office.

Nearly two months after stunning Hartlepool, and indeed Britain, with his election win, the world's most famous Hartlepool United fan says it is possible still to live with your parents and control a £100m budget at the same time.

"I wake up every morning and look forward to going into work, which is something I haven't really been able to say before," he says, hastily adding that he means no disrespect to his previous call centre employers.

"Since the first few days, when I was hounded out of house and home by the media, I have genuinely loved every minute of it."

Day one of the job was what you might call a sharp learning curve for the former cruise ship waiter. "Facing banks and banks of microphones at my first press conference, I felt like the England manager. The first half hour was OK, but then the tabloids took over and really had a go about me being a fraud for ditching the monkey suit.

"I'm sure that some people thought I would dress in a monkey suit 24 hours-a-day. No one in Hartlepool has ever said they expected that. At one point, I was a bit worried about my parents, who were being plagued with calls day and night. Their privacy was seriously invaded."

Dressing up as H'Angus the Monkey to get elected as mayor is, however, a sure fire way to waive your rights to privacy. Especially in a town that, if it's known for anything, it's that little sea shanty about the people of Hartlepool hanging a monkey they suspected to be a Napoleonic spy, and even more heinously, a Frenchman.

The full horrors of total media exposure weren't unleashed on Drummond until he romped to victory on that night in May. But he must have suspected what was to come when he started hearing rumours that something amazing was about to happen in Hartlepool.

He remembers: "Days before the election, I started thinking I was going to do quite well because of the amount of response I was getting in the street.

"On the night, I walked into the count and just thought 'whoa'. I had never been in a count before and the buzz was immense. As the night went on, some of the councillors pulled me aside and told me I was going to win, then Peter Mandelson pulled me up backstage and said, 'You know you've won, don't you?'

"For some reason, despite the whole thing starting out as a joke, I felt really calm."

Calm he may have been, and although he seemed serene enough during early public engagements, his lack of experience in public office really shows. Chairing a meeting with a local group for the disabled in his plush mayor's office this week, he was completely upstaged by a man who, bursting with civic pride, gate-crashed the meeting to show the visitors the council's impressive array of ceremonial chains and maces.

But, as Drummond readily admits, he's not exactly Lloyd George in the public speaking stakes.

"I don't enjoy it, in fact, I try and avoid it, to be honest. I've got to present a Best Value Performance Plan to a full council meeting this week and I'm dreading it. It's something the constitution says I have to do. I would much rather just answer questions from people. That's what I'm good at."

As well as fielding endless 'King of the Swingers' gags - 'He's reached the top of the tree', etc - the Monkey Mayor has been roundly criticised by the Press for failing to uphold one of the few serious policies he peddled - namely, free bananas for all school kids. This ambitious plan, dreamt up by one of his campaign team, has come back to haunt him again and again.

So, can he deliver? "I don't regret saying it, but it was one of those spur-of-the-moment ideas that everyone latched onto. I'm not saying it can't be done, but to give every school kid a free banana every day would cost us tens of thousands of pounds. I don't want to be seen to be going back on an election promise. We are still trying to promote healthy eating in Hartlepool's schools."

Another aspect of mayoral duties that doesn't sit well with his everyman image is the bland, corporate-speak often attributed to him in council press statements.

Drummond says he has always striven to do exactly the opposite. He explained: "I try to put myself across in layman's terms, but sometimes it may come across in newspapers as Tony Blair-speak. I don't want to sound like that, but once things get re-written in the Press I can sound different. Nothing I say through the council is doctored in any way as far as I know."

One arena where he feels less restricted is the local boozer where he can spend some of the £53,000 salary he now earns. Once there he tries his best to blend in.

But, as he explains, it's not always easy. "I have sacrificed going down the town at weekends because everyone recognises me now. It's quite hard to adjust when you go out to relax and some drunk bloke comes up to you at one in the morning saying he's got a druggie living next door and what can I do about it?

"But I still like to go out with my mates and the big love of my life, Hartlepool United, is still a big factor. Before the mayor thing, I arranged to go on a pre-season tour of Holland with the club and I'm still doing it."

His huge pay hike, which boosted his previous salary by about £40,000, hasn't helped him sort out some of life's age old problems though. He's still 'negotiating' with his mum over the monthly rent and it hasn't brought him any more success with the opposite sex. "I've had a worrying lack of offers since I became mayor,' he says ruefully. "I wouldn't mind, but I'm the most eligible bachelor in Hartlepool now."

Elected to the post for a minimum of three years, he says he wants to run for office again when that term expires.

"I don't even like politics, to be fair. But I'll let people judge what I do when the time comes. I'm not a fraud. I've been as open and as honest as I can."