Such was his surprise at his unexpected victory in Rugby and Kenilworth in the landslide of 1997 that the newly elected Labour MP Andy King, who has died aged 78, recognised immediately that he needed to focus on local issues were he to have any chance of retaining the constituency – which had been a Conservative seat since it was created in 1983 – at a subsequent election.
One of the most populous constituencies in the country, the town of Rugby still had a Labour tradition, but Kenilworth was rated by the Almanac of British Politics, in the edition published at the time of King’s first election, as one of Britain’s most affluent and middle-class towns, heavily weighted towards the Conservatives. “Kenilworth knows which side its bread is buttered on,” the authors commented.
