In the 2019 general election, the term “Workington man” was used to represent the group of lifelong Labour voters who dramatically switched to the Conservative party and spurred Boris Johnson’s victory across the “red wall” in the north and Midlands of England.
Nearly four years on, and after Rishi Sunak’s first conference speech as Tory leader, my research group More in Common spoke to first-time Tory voters in the Cumbrian town about their impressions of the prime minister and whether his attempt to present himself as a “change candidate” had landed.
