IN the 1980s, Essex Man was the key target swing voter that gave Margaret Thatcher a decade in power.
By 1997, Tony Blair had to win over Mondeo Man, and it was David Camerons task in 2010 to woo Worcester Woman.
The highest concentration of the key voter the PM is targeting live in Workington
Tomorrow, Boris Johnson is given a new key voter to aim for if he is to seal a Tory majority in Decembers General Election and he has been dubbed Workington Man.
The new electoral stereotype has been pinned down by right of centre think tank Onward. Typically he is an older, Brexit-backing, working class man, who lives in a northern rugby league town.
The highest concentration of these key voters live in the Cumbrian coastal town of Workington, hence the name.
Traditionally loyal to Labour, Onwards polling shows Workington Man struggles to identify with hard left Opposition boss Jeremy Corbyn.
But he does crave more security in a fast-changing world.
OPPOSED TO CORBYN
He also wants better wages rather than tax cuts in his familys pockets, more cash spent on hospitals and schools, and for his local town to be done up.
Writing for The Sun today, Onward director and former No10 adviser Will Tanner says Workington Man is highly susceptible to Mr Johnsons message.
But Mr Tanner reveals: To win him round, the Conservatives must promise more than the economic freedoms and tax giveaways they are known for.
They need to offer protection from a modern world in which liberalising economic policies, globalisation and immigration have undermined work, wages and community.
Onward has also identified the top 20 target seats for the Tories, where demographics like age, class, education and a pro-Brexit vote favour the Conservatives.
Boris Johnson must win seats that have never voted Tory before to win the general election
MPs have voted for a General Election to be held on December 12
The Workington Man struggles to identify with hard-left Opposition boss Jeremy Corbyn
Jo Swinson’s pro-Remain Lib Dems will almost certainly take seats from the Tories in London and the West Country
They include a host of smaller northern towns such as Bishop Auckland, Crewe and Nantwich, Wakefield and Keighley with Workington 25th on Onwards target list for the Tories.
It has also identified the top 20 seats currently held by Tories with small majorities that are vulnerable because of younger voters there with more liberal views.
They include Richmond Park and Putney in London, Cheltenham in Gloucestershire and Stirling in Scotland.
Boris must win nine more seats for the Tories than Theresa May did in 2017 just to get a majority of just one.
HUGE ELECTORAL CHALLENGE
But he faces almost certain seat losses in London and the West Country to the pro-Remain Lib Dems and to the anti-Brexit SNP in Scotland leaving the PM with a huge electoral challenge.
Pollsters have also warned that all parties face the most volatile electorate in British history, who could defy all predictions and vote a completely different way.
Political analysts Opinium say the Tories boast a 16-point lead over Mr Corbyns deeply split Labour Party. Across several other polls, the average lead is 10 points.
When Mrs May forced a snap election in 2017, her Tory party was 24 points up but just shaved the result by only two points.
Winter's chill won't keep Brits from polls
BRITS will defy the freezing cold to vote in their droves, a polling guru has predicted.
Professor John Curtice said Brexit is so important to voters that a spot of bad weather will not keep them away.
He pointed out that when the country went to the polls in February 1950 a record 84 per cent of voters turned out.
Sir John rubbished suggestions that Brits will snub the ballot box because it is cold, dark and might be raining.
He said: What do people usually do in December? They go out in the cold and look at the Christmas lights, go shopping or to watch pantomimes.
We dont shut down before Christmas. We go running around town at a higher pace.
He said people are more engaged with politics than at any point since the 1960s.
The Brexit Party is already trying to cash in by selling thermal mugs, party branded socks and beanie hats.
Tories need to offer more than tax cuts
Says Will Tanner, Director of Onward
THE rugby league pitches of Workington and Castleford are a long way from the playing fields of Eton.
But it is in these Northern towns that voters will give Boris Johnson his Christmas victory or hand him a lump of coal.
It is Northern towns like Workington that will either give Boris Johnson his Christmas victory or hand him his lump of coal
Boris Johnson needs to target a very different kind of voter to get his landslide
When Tony Blair won his 1997 landslide, his pollsters targeted Worcester Woman an imaginary working-class mother who used to vote Tory but could be persuaded to vote Labour to improve her familys quality of life. Boris Johnson needs to target a very different voter to get his landslide.
In post-Brexit Britain, the typical key swing voter is Workington Man a white man over 45 who did not go to university and voted to Leave.
Until recently, he was dyed-in-the-wool Labour. Mr Corbyns neglect of the working class means he might, for the first time, vote Tory.
To win him round, the Conservatives must promise more than the economic freedoms and tax giveaways they are known for.
They need to offer protection from a modern world in which liberalising economic policies, globalisation and immigration have undermined work, wages and community.
Nearly three in four voters think it has become harder for people like them to make a decent living, so any manifesto worth its salt will put ending low pay and insecure work at its heart.
GREATER SENSE OF BELONGING
For the half of school leavers who lag behind without degrees, the Conservatives should divert funding from low-quality university degrees towards technical education.
The Tories also need to reassess their long-held devotion to tax cuts. While the cost of living is a problem, the level of taxation doesnt seem to be.
Two thirds of people want investment in the NHS, schools and social care rather than income tax cuts.
This may be because households are squeezed more by rent, commuting and childcare than taxes.
But people simply dont believe politicians any more when they offer tax cuts.
Instead, the Brexit dividend should be focused on improving A&Es and classrooms. Building local nurseries, bringing empty and foreign-owned homes into use, and boosting family budgets will win votes.
SOCIAL FABRIC IS FRAYING
Most of all, the Conservatives need to restore a greater sense of belonging.
Think of your own town the high street is probably in disrepair, libraries and buses have gone, pubs and post offices are closing. Crime is everyones concern.
The social fabric is fraying and people feel it.
New funding for high streets and towns is a start but why not help communities take over post offices, pubs and football clubs when they go out of business, as we do for schools, or introduce a national civic service for school leavers?
Labours abiding strength is the basic sense that their politics is about looking out for others. But Jeremy Corbyns Labour cares more about ending control of immigration and re-running the 2016 referendum than protecting working people.
For Boris Johnson to attract these voters he needs to embrace a new kind of conservatism for the common good.
This is the only way he can reach into Labours heartlands to win seats such as Wigan, Dewsbury and Workington places that seek security and community over freedom and individualism.
Workington has never returned a Conservative MP in a general election.
If Boris is to get his Christmas majority, it needs to do so this December.
