Hartlepool
Labour hold

Perhaps a rather unlikely seat for Peter Mandelson, who seems to embody metropolitan sophistication, the north eastern industrial town of Hartlepool nevertheless re-elected the former Northern Ireland Secretary in 1997 with a national average swing of 11 per cent, in spite of its marginal past (Labour won by only 275 votes back in 1945, and the Conservatives actually took the seat in 1959). In order to prolong his chequered career in the Commons, Mandelson now has to overcome the rapidly expanded hostility expressed by many of his constituents following his second exit from the Cabinet in January 2001, although it may not be a crippling blow to him that the Left-wing alternative looks like being provided by the National Union of Mineworkers leader, the Yorkshireman Arthur Scargill, the leader and indeed founder of the Socialist Labour Party. Scargill is again venturing far from his roots and his power base in making a Left-wing gesture, having lost his deposit in a protest candidature against the ex-Tory defector Alan Howarth in Newport, the steel town in South Wales, in 1997. Adding to, or perhaps dividing, Mandelson's problems is the journalist John Booth, who has not been allowed to stand under the label of "Genuine Labour" by the Returning Officer, once his deputy when he was the party's communications chief, and with local and trade union connections. Booth is distinctly opposed to the euro and will try to exploit local resentment against Mandelson's alleged associations with sleaze and frequent absences from the constituency. It is said that during the Napoleonic wars the people of Hartlepool hanged a monkey suspected of being a French spy. It will be interesting to see what fate they deal the pro-European Mandelson in 2001.

Peter Mandelson, as a twice-sacked Cabinet Minister (first as Trade Secretary, then as Northern Ireland Secretary), is the man who introduced the Second Going into British politics. Born 1953, educated at Hendon County Grammar School and St Catherine's College Oxford, before his election in 1992 he was employed only in politics-related jobs, whether for unions, television, or the Labour Party. With no hinterland beyond politics, he was the "onlie begetter" of New Labour, a Blairite before Blair. As Labour's arch spinner he even spun his own familial recollections of his famous grandfather, Herbert Morrison, whom he actually scarcely saw because Morrison objected to Mandelson's mother marrying a Jew, and because she resented her parents' loveless marriage and Morrison's remarriage after her mother's death. Yet, like Morrison, he too was friendless in his party; as Ken Livingstone put it: "Formidable, even more loathed than I was." Viewing him as an insecure narcissist who harbours grudges, Labour will have to hope he keeps a low profile and concentrates on laying the ghost of Arthur Scargill, risen from the dereliction of the coal industry to haunt him here

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 7.04% 14.99% 46.97 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.46% 2.13% 21.73 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.15% 2.49% 6.08 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 2.74% 4.43% 61.95 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 10.40% 7.27% 142.99 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.11% 2.56% 4.45 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.73% 3.94% 18.58 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 8.24% 13.04% 63.18 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 24.67% 12.70% 194.18 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 6.59% 8.14% 80.99 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.96% 4.02% 23.84 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.73% 3.19% 85.58 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 29.32% 11.31% 259.20 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 1.24% 3.06% 40.50 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 4.61% 2.52% 183.22 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 14.29% 9.41% 151.77 £5-10K 21.60% 16.63% 129.89 £10-15K 18.51% 16.58% 111.63 £15-20K 13.39% 13.58% 98.56 £20-25K 9.26% 10.39% 89.06 £25-30K 6.36% 7.77% 81.85 £30-35K 4.41% 5.79% 76.13 £35-40K 3.10% 4.33% 71.44 £40-45K 2.20% 3.27% 67.48 £45-50K 1.59% 2.48% 64.06 £50-55K 1.16% 1.90% 61.06 £55-60K 0.86% 1.47% 58.40 £60-65K 0.64% 1.15% 56.00 £65-70K 0.49% 0.91% 53.83 £70-75K 0.37% 0.72% 51.85 £75-80K 0.29% 0.57% 50.03 £80-85K 0.22% 0.46% 48.35 £85-90K 0.18% 0.37% 46.79 £90-95K 0.14% 0.31% 45.33 £95-100K 0.11% 0.25% 43.98 £100K + 0.50% 1.34% 37.01