And off they go:

The child star of the Labour conference and the truth behind his 'life of poverty'

At just 16, Rory Weal was being feted yesterday as the 'hero' of the Labour conference for an impassioned speech telling how the welfare state saved his family from ruin.

The schoolboy tugged at delegates' heartstrings with a tale of his home being repossessed and the family having 'nothing, no money, no savings', and only the benefits system to fall back on.

But Labour leader Ed Miliband may be surprised to know he was not so hard-up after all.

For it turns out he is the privileged son of a millionaire property developer who sent Rory to a private school until his business went bust.

Even now he goes to a selective grammar school, which Labour policy opposes.

Rory's father Jonathan Weal, 53, owned homes worth an estimated £2.25million in some of the most sought-after addresses in the land.

He had a luxury penthouse apartment in leafy Blackheath, South London, valued at £1.3million, but it was repossessed and sold for £359,000 – which is still more valuable than the average British home.

Then the banks sold Mr Weal’s £950,000 Grade II listed lodge house in Chislehurst, Kent, for 'only' half a million pounds.

In the good times, Mr Weal gave Rory an advantage over ordinary families by sending him to £13,788-a-year Colfe's School in Blackheath.

But when his business ventures failed, his son was lucky enough to be accepted by Oakwood Park Grammar School in Maidstone, Kent.

Rory's mother was a director of a number of her husband's companies before they went bust, and she, Rory and her eight-year-old daughter now live in a four-bedroom £300,000 semi-detached house in Allington, Maidstone.

Yesterday Rory's own grandmother described the budding politician as an accomplished actor.

At her home in Stockbridge, Hampshire, Sandra Weal said: 'He used to do a lot of acting and I think that's why he was so confident in front of an audience.

'We only found out about the speech on Monday and it’s really the first time we've heard about his interest in politics.

'We were surprised because we thought he wanted to go in to something like acting.

'But he'll make a fantastic politician - he's not pompous, he’s just a very genuine person.'

He had a luxury penthouse apartment in leafy Blackheath, South London, valued at £1.3million, but it was repossessed and sold for £359,000 – which is still more valuable than the average British home.

Then the banks sold Mr Weal’s £950,000 Grade II listed lodge house in Chislehurst, Kent, for 'only' half a million pounds.

It all seems pretty irrelevant anyway, given that it was hardly the boy's fault that the family lost their home. Several Mailites were having a lovely time moaning about the family taking benefits whilst forgetting that the likelihood was that the father had paid considerably more by way of tax than he was ever likely to receive in benefits.

Labour found a new hero, Benefits Boy. Sixteen-year-old Rory Weal captivated conference when he attacked the Tories' benefits reforms.

He said the welfare system had saved his life. It turns out he's a privately-educated aspiring actor whose father's a property tycoon. He lives with his mother in a £300,000 house and has ambitions to be Prime Minister.

So, an actor and a fibber with a love of the good life — the perfect heir to Blair.