Stunned

It will never cease to amaze me the things that traditional Conservative voters are prepared to endorse (whether actively or tacitly, by ignoring them) through backing the Tories out of their own narrow, short-term self-interest - most recently, the misery and thousands of deaths caused by callous and ideologically motivated austerity measures, the wilful neglect and underfunding of the NHS, deliberate and cynical attempts to mislead the public and spread fake news, and poisonous rhetoric and actions with respect to minorities that have created a culture in which racism and homophobia can thrive, to name but four.

But what has really left me stunned is the fact that so many traditional Labour voters - some in constituencies in the north-east that I know well - have looked at the party's bold, progressive manifesto and leadership and somehow decided that their lot would also be better under a Johnson-led Tory government and outside the EU. I fear they're going to be proved very, very wrong.