Meet Rishi Sunak’s Labor opponent who hopes to bring down the PM

The man who could become the face of the biggest shock in British political history has claimed that whether he wins or not, there is an “undercurrent” of change within the electorate, meaning that once secure, the conservative bastions will fall.

Tom Wilson is the 29-year-old Labor candidate running against Rishi Sunak in Richmond and Northallerton and who, according to last week’s polls, could be the first electoral ‘kingkiller’ – in the sense that he could be the first person to defeat a presiding officer. minister during a general election.

He became a person of interest to the wider political establishment when an MRP poll last week suggested Mr Sunak’s constituency was “too close to call”.

For anyone looking for this election’s so-called “Portillo moment” — named after Michael Portillo’s shock defeat in the Tory collapse in 1997 — it seemed unbeatable.

In his first major interview with a national newspaper, Mr Wilson said The independent that the feedback he is receiving in the Yorkshire constituency where he grew up suggests an ultimate electoral shock could be possible.

But the fact that the Conservatives are said to have sent extra bodies to help the prime minister hold on to a seat he won with a majority of more than 27,000 votes in 2019 is a victory in itself.

“It feels like years ago (when) I first applied,” Mr. Wilson said. The independent. “It was all about making them work for it. And in fact, we have already achieved this. So yes, in that sense, we have already won.

He laughed at the prospect of activists being bussed from CCHQ in London to save the Prime Minister.

“There are rumors, aren’t there?” I have yet to see a bunch of assorted guys lost in the glens.

“They are clearly limiting things to the heights (with) the story that resources would be taken away from seats with majorities of up to 7,000 votes.

“We have to view this almost as a ruse. There’s no reason for them to necessarily tell everyone that they’re doing this. We cannot be complacent.

Mr Wilson is yet to meet the Prime Minister properly, although there was an awkward moment at a show where he manned a stall in a family garden while Mr Sunak toured.

“I guess the first time I meet him properly will be on the countdown,” he said.

Richmond and Northallerton is a large, sprawling rural constituency, the second largest in land area in England. But what is happening there is reflected elsewhere in the fact that, suddenly, Labor – still seen as an industrial or metropolitan party – is also reaching out to the rural vote.

In south-west Norfolk, Mr Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss is fighting for her political life and last week the Prime Minister took his battle bus to Sir Geoffrey Cox’s seat in West Devon, which had a majority of more than 25,000 votes. In fact, one of the MRP polls painted the blue of East Anglia almost entirely red last week.

Sir Keir Starmer became the first Labor leader to strap on his wellies and stride across Tory farming territory, proclaiming that “rural communities are in my DNA”.

It’s a change Mr. Wilson feels, too. He found there are deep concerns about services in traditional Conservative heartlands like his constituency, including the closure of a hospital which will force people to travel to Newcastle or Leeds for treatment. This perhaps above all sums up why Labor is picking up votes in rural communities.

“There is an undercurrent of very poor and vulnerable people in this constituency – being rural amplifies all the problems,” he said.

“Because not only do you have to worry about whether the ambulance will be able to reach you in time, but you are also much further from the hospital when you trip or when an elderly relative lives in a tiny village in In the valleys, there is a real fear that they will not receive the treatment they need.

“And because it’s a rural setting, you can’t always guarantee that you’ll be able to live close to your family.” And so there is, yes, there is this enormous discontent.

Mr. Wilson said the surge in support for candidates like him is often based on “hope.”

“People seeming to be losing hope seems to be a recurring theme of this election, and by being able to present your ideas for some sort of credible plan to help them directly, and just giving them that time, you can start to see people rediscover a little bit of that hope,” he said.

After July 4, Mr Wilson has high hopes that he will be the new MP for Richmond and Northallerton, but admits he sometimes wonders if he is “daydreaming”.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” But if you get too lost in daydreaming, it will never happen.

“The fact that this seems to be within the range of possibilities is motivating. As I said, many people have been completely relegated to the always-winning Tories, and now think this is an opportunity for change, not just here in the Prime Minister’s seat, but across the country.

“No voter fits easily into the type of categories or demographics that national election analysis tends to place people into. Everyone is independent, everyone has their own priorities and their own problems.

The Prime Minister’s campaign missteps have also had an impact on his local seat, including anger over his premature return from D-Day commemorations with the Catterick garrison based in that seat.

But for Mr Wilson, who works for the NHS, it was the way David Cameron and George Osborne’s austerity in the Coalition government thwarted his dreams of becoming a musician that led him to enter politics .

“When I was a teenager, my main aim was to become a musician and I was learning to play drums and bass guitar at a music center in Darlington. But under the Cameron era, the local council suddenly found itself facing a black hole worth tens of thousands of pounds.”

He became involved in a campaign to save the center and when that was not possible, “it turned into a fundraising campaign with local councilors at all levels. And it was shortly after that that I joined the Labor Party.”

However, he has the election bug, whatever the result.

Mr. Wilson added: “I really enjoyed, naturally, the experience of being a candidate and talking to people, where they can open up to a candidate in a way that they don’t open up to your average activist or canvasser. . It gives you such a window into people’s lives.