The Conservatives are now advertising for a candidate for Wolverhampton N.E. I have just posted the following on Conservative Home (apologies to anyone who got a blank page earlier when linking from Iain Dale’s Daley Dozen, but I have now rectified this problem)…
I would like to highlight what a good seat Wolverhampton NE is shaping up to (unlike many of the others on this list). It had a Conservative MP in the 1980s. Demographic change, new-build, and shifting political allegiances makes this a new marginal – just as changing Midlands seats such as Aldridge Brownhills were in the 70s. Mondeo Man and Woman have come back to the Tories here.
With the incumbent Labour MP, Ken Purchase, stepping down and a civil war amongst the WNE Labour Party having broken out over his recently selected successor (Emma Reynolds, who beat two local ex-Labour councillors who lost their seats to the Conservatives in recent years), it offers real potential.
In recent years, the Conservatives have moved from holding few seats in the constituency to 13 out of 21, holding 3 out of 3 in Bushbury N, 3 out of 3 in Wednesfield N, 3 out of 3 in Wednesfield S, 2 out of 3 in Oxley, 1 out of 3 in Fallings Park, and 1 out of 3 – Heath Town (Bushbury S & Low Hill is entirely Labour but has become more marginal).
By 2010, Conservatives in WNE should have at least 16/21 and by 2011 18/21.
This is a winnable seat, and also – the local Party could do with any help possible in the two by elections coming up on 23 October, in Wednesfield N and Wednesfield S. Here is their website:
Mountjoy