Manchester, Gorton
Labour hold

For a long time Gerald Kaufman has played a distinctive role in Labour politics, most recently as a senior backbench committee chairman. His seat, Gorton in Manchester's east end, has got safer and safer over the last thirty years, and even though Liberal Democrat local activism was rewarded by an advance into second place at the 1997 General Election, they were still nearly 50pc behind Kaufman. The Lib Dems won both Gorton wards, Levenshulme and Rusholme in 2000, leaving Longsight and Fallowfield to Labour. Labour will probably be ahead in all of them in a 2001 general election.

Gerald Kaufman, tall, bald and waspish, and a once-prominent rightwing factionalist, will, if re-elected, be Labour’s fourth longest-running MP. Elected in 1970, he rose politically as Harold Wilson’s less high-profile equivalent of Alistair Campbell. Born into a Leeds Jewish family in 1930 and educated at Leeds Grammar School (where he recalls anti-Semitic bullying) and Queen’s College, Oxford, he presides over the Culture Select Committee, and has been described as “a man with a tongue so sharp that it hurts just to see his mouth open”.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 0.39% 14.99% 2.61 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.00% 2.49% 0.05 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 1.70% 4.43% 38.31 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 0.57% 7.27% 7.88 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 1.96% 2.56% 76.48 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 22.55% 3.94% 571.76 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 2.60% 13.04% 19.94 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 19.97% 12.70% 157.19 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 2.11% 8.14% 25.92 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 7.87% 4.02% 195.79 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 1.81% 3.19% 56.70 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 18.90% 11.31% 167.10 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 4.92% 3.06% 160.62 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 5.24% 2.52% 208.12 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 9.15% 2.10% 435.85 Unclassified Unclassified 0.26% 0.06% 413.65

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 15.59% 9.41% 165.61 £5-10K 22.52% 16.63% 135.41 £10-15K 19.06% 16.58% 114.98 £15-20K 13.46% 13.58% 99.10 £20-25K 8.99% 10.39% 86.53 £25-30K 5.94% 7.77% 76.45 £30-35K 3.96% 5.79% 68.29 £35-40K 2.67% 4.33% 61.62 £40-45K 1.83% 3.27% 56.11 £45-50K 1.28% 2.48% 51.53 £50-55K 0.91% 1.90% 47.68 £55-60K 0.65% 1.47% 44.42 £60-65K 0.48% 1.15% 41.64 £65-70K 0.36% 0.91% 39.26 £70-75K 0.27% 0.72% 37.20 £75-80K 0.20% 0.57% 35.40 £80-85K 0.16% 0.46% 33.83 £85-90K 0.12% 0.37% 32.45 £90-95K 0.10% 0.31% 31.22 £95-100K 0.08% 0.25% 30.14 £100K + 0.35% 1.34% 25.77