Playing the hormone card
Picking the right candidate can be vital in volatile electoral areas such as Essex
ON JUNE 7th, attention will undoubtedly focus on Essex, not only because the BBC's chief psephologist, Tony King, is from Essex University, but because this is one of the most politically unstable parts of the country. It used to be Thatcher land. That famous journalistic construct, “Essex man”, was the personification of the values of 1980s Toryism: working-class, aspirational, entrepreneurial and patriotic. Then in 1997, Labour picked off famous Tory seats, such as Basildon.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Playing the hormone card”
From the June 2nd 2001 edition
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