Worcester woman is a political term used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. It profiles or describes a type of median voter, a working class woman in her 30s with two children who worries about quality of life issues and has little interest in politics. Not necessarily hailing from the West Midlands city of Worcester, Worcester woman has been described as an important swing voter when it comes to deciding elections. [1]
It has been perceived to represent someone who would previously have voted Conservative but would likely be swung to vote for Tony Blair's Labour Party by the New Labour rebranding. This electoral sector was particularly targeted in the 1997 and 2001 UK general elections. [2] The Worcester constituency is a noted marginal seat which elected its first ever Labour MP in 1997. It subsequently returned to the Conservatives in 2010. In 2015, it was considered a swing voter for Ed Miliband. [3]
Worcester woman has also been used as a pejorative term to describe a woman with consumerist views and a shallow interest in politics, leading her to decide her vote based on issues raised during the election campaign, and therefore likely to vote for whichever political party has the most effective spin. [4]
Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett,, is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, she was the United Kingdom's first female foreign secretary, and served as a minister under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Beckett was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994, and briefly Leader of the Opposition and acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1974 to 1979, and for Derby South from 1983 to 2024. Her 45 years in the House of Commons makes her the longest-serving female MP in British history.
Dame Karen Patricia Buck is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Westminster North, previously Regent's Park and Kensington North, from 1997 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she served as a Member of Westminster City Council from 1990 to 1997.
Soccer mom is a term that broadly refers to an American, Canadian, or Australian, middle-class, suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to youth sporting events or other activities. It came into widespread use during the 1996 United States presidential election and over time has come to take on an unfavorable connotation.
A swing vote is a vote that is seen as potentially going to any of a number of candidates in an election, or, in a two-party system, may go to either of the two dominant political parties. Such votes are usually sought after in election campaigns, since they can play a big role in determining the outcome.
Essex man and Mondeo man are stereotypical figures which were popularised in 1990s Britain. The "Essex man" as a political figure is an example of a type of median voter and was used to help explain the electoral successes of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. The closely related "Mondeo man" was identified as the sort of voter the Labour Party needed to attract to win the election in 1997. Basildon man and woman are narrower terms being used synonymously.
An electoral swing analysis shows the extent of change in voter support, typically from one election to another, expressed as a positive or negative percentage. A multi-party swing is an indicator of a change in the electorate's preference between candidates or parties, often between major parties in a two-party system. A swing can be calculated for the electorate as a whole, for a given electoral district or for a particular demographic.
Sutton and Cheam is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Luke Taylor, a Liberal Democrat.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, to elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. The election resulted in a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron similar to that seen in 1979, the last time a Conservative opposition had ousted a Labour government. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Gordon Brown lost the 66-seat majority it had previously enjoyed, but no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives won the most votes and seats, but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. This election marked the start of Conservative government for the next 14 years.
Holby City woman (HCW) was a voter demographic which was identified by Conservative Party strategists in the United Kingdom as a key group of voters for the Conservative Party at the 2010 general election. The term is taken from the fictional BBC hospital drama Holby City, set in South West England. The character of Faye Morton has been described as an example of a typical "Holby City woman".
"Motorway man" is a political term used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. The phrase was coined by Jim Pickard of the Financial Times in the run up to the general election of 2010 and describes a type of floating voter who it is believed can determine the outcome of an election by the way he casts his vote. The name is derived from the idea that this type of voter lives on a modern housing estate, with easy access to the motorway network.
Blue Labour is a British campaign group and political faction that seeks to promote blue-collar and culturally conservative values within the British Labour Party – particularly on immigration, crime, and community spirit – while remaining committed to labour rights and left-wing economic policies. It seeks to represent a traditional working-class approach to Labour politics.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 May 2015 to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was the first of three general elections to be held under the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and was the last general election to be held before the United Kingdom voted to end its membership of the European Union (EU) in June 2016. Local elections took place in most areas of England on the same day and is to date the most recent general election to coincide with local elections. The governing Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won an unexpected victory; opinion polls and political commentators had predicted that the results of the election would cause a second consecutive hung parliament whose composition would be similar to the previous Parliament, which was in effect from the previous national election in 2010. However, opinion polls underestimated the Conservatives, as they won 330 of the 650 seats and 36.9 per cent of the votes, giving them a majority of ten seats.
A by-election was held on 20 November 2014 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Rochester and Strood in Kent, England. The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Reckless called it on joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP), from the Conservatives. He resigned his seat.
The 2019 United Kingdom general election of 12 December 2019 saw many new pieces of politics-related jargon enter popular use.
The red wall is a term used in British politics to describe the UK Parliament constituencies in the Midlands and Northern England that historically supported the Labour Party. At the 2019 general election, many of these parliamentary seats were won by the Conservative Party, with the media describing the red wall as having "turned blue".
Workington man is a political term that has been used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. Named after the Cumbria town of Workington, the term was first used ahead of the 2019 general election. Workington man describes the stereotypical swing voter who it was believed would determine the election result. Their support of the Conservatives in the 2019 election helped the party break the Labour Party's Red Wall of safe seats.
Onward is a British centre-right think tank producing research on economic and social issues. It has been described as "close to Rishi Sunak's Downing Street". It was founded in 2018 by Will Tanner, Martyn Rose, and Neil O'Brien. The think tank's advisory board is chaired by Daniel Finkelstein. The founders state that Onward would operate in the mainstream of conservative politics, and is a reaction to the "lack of energy on the centre right". It is explicitly aligned to the Conservative Party and is not a charity.
Woman to Woman, known in the media as Harriet Harman's Pink Bus, was a political campaign in the United Kingdom for the Labour Party at the 2015 general election. It was led by Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, and involved a pink battle bus visiting marginal constituencies, promoting Labour policies and rallying support among female voters. It was described by Labour as the party's "biggest ever women's campaign". The Pink Bus was criticised in the media as "sexist and patronising".
Stevenage woman is a stereotypical voter identified in the United Kingdom, similar to Workington man or Worcester woman. It profiles a suburban mother in her early 40s who is disillusioned with politics. Identified with the Hertfordshire new town of Stevenage, Stevenage woman has been described as an important swing voter for the Labour Party in the 2024 general election. Such voters are identified as typically struggling with stagnant wages and the cost-of-living crisis.
The Sea wall is a term used by psephologists to refer to battleground constituencies along the UK coastline. The sea wall is predominantly Conservative voting but is home to many marginal seats that are vulnerable to Labour according to opinion polls. Along with Red wall and Blue wall, the Sea wall overlaps both and has been used in coverage for the 2024 general election. There are thought to be 108 such constituencies. In the 2019 general election, Labour won just 24 of these seats.
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