The alienation people in towns like Hartlepool feel from Labour runs very deep. The attempt to steamroller their vote to leave the EU - led by the likes of @Keir_Starmer - will not be forgotten or forgiven, and stripped away all illusion that this was their party anymore (1/n)

That alienation is now being compounded by what they see Labour doing - choosing to focus on woke identity politics vs a Conservative government focused on recovery, jobs and growth, and pride in both nation and in place (2/n)

The Labour Parliamentary Party reflects this totally. I often listen to their MPs - particularly the new wave of Corbynites but also many self styled moderates - and think they are speaking a *completely* different language to the people I represent (3/n)

What comes across from many Labour MPs is that they really don’t much like the country they live in - they think it’s selfish, a bit bigoted (shades of Gordon Brown in 2010 here) and rather pathetically attached to traditions and loyalties they cringe from (4/n)

They don’t see that most Britons just don’t feel that way. They are proud of a generous, optimistic and friendly country, that’s constantly changing but steeped in tradition, and is a country where success isn’t defined by who you are but by who you are capable of being (5/n)

The Conservatives are infinitely more in tune with this. That’s @BorisJohnson’s success. Here in the Tees Valley, that’s @BenHouchen’s success. Common sense, confidence in our future outside the EU, more good jobs and a better future for the next generation than the last (6/n)

People in the NE have stopped voting Labour “because my parents did”. They are looking at the two parties clear sightedly, on the basis of what they offer - and they aren’t going to go back for being taken for granted any more (7/7).