In Blair’s old seat, the regulars agree: ‘Corbyn doesn’t understand us here’
It came as no surprise that Boris Johnson hot-footed it to Sedgefield on Saturday . The prime minister probably never had much doubt that he could eclipse Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in this election, but to rewrite the electoral history of this particular place was perhaps beyond his imagining. He needed to see it for himself.
Sedgefield had not only returned solid Labour majorities since 1935, it was also the symbolic home of the politician who, by the time of the next election, will be the only Labour election winner in half a century. Johnson wore an ironic red tie for the occasion, and came close to quoting some of Tony Blair’s most famous lines verbatim. “We are not the masters, we are the servants, and our job is to serve the people of this country,” he said. Even when he is making gestures of one-nation humility, he can’t help himself from trolling.