The Tories are selling themselves as a party of change and investment, and voters are buying it
Amid all the inevitable soul-searching for Labour following Thursday’s defeat in the Hartlepool byelection, it is just as instructive to examine what went right for the Conservatives. They have done a far better analysis of the electorate, changing demographics, changing economies, and successfully moulded a coalition that is becoming embedded in the old parts of Labour country. A “red wall” is the wrong way to describe it, because walls tend to stay up.
It seems remarkable that a party that has been in power, nationally, for more than a decade continually presents itself as the “change” party. And yet it did so in this byelection, electing a Tory MP in Hartlepool for the first time in 62 years, following a similar strategy during the general election.
