I love this city, says ex-Labour man now bidding to be Tory MP for Wolverhampton

So who in their right mind would want to follow in his footsteps?

"I think what you are saying is 'why didn't I pick a longer straw?'" chuckles Mike Newton.

The Stafford-born businessman – and former Labour Party activist – is the Conservative candidate to fight the seat at the next General Election, with all the polls suggesting he faces a metaphorical mountain to climb if he is to defeat Labour's candidate, solicitor Warinder Juss.

In 2019, when the Conservatives were riding high in the polls, Stuart Anderson squeaked through for the Conservatives in the previous Wolverhampton South West seat with a slim majority of 1,661. With the Tories now trailing Labour in the polls by margins well in excess of 20 per cent – and a redrawing of the electoral map which will probably not help his chances – it would take a brave man to bet on a Tory win in Wolverhampton West.

So why has he put himself forward?

"I picked out Wolverhampton West by choice because I think it's a fascinating challenge here," he says.

"The constituency is so interesting, it's very diverse, by demography and by geography. All the little areas are different from each other, there's quite a lot here I think we can do in terms of making the territory more favourable for the Conservatives."

Mr Newton, 53, is familiar with the area. Born in Stafford, he briefly worked for the RSPCA driving a van around Wolverhampton following his graduation from Cambridge University.

His career took him to London, first at the Bank of England, and later working the international financial markets, and there was a spell in New York where he met his American wife Lori. He now lives back in Stafford, where he runs three businesses – one leasing railway locomotives, an economic consultancy, and also a pub in Stoke called The Old Bulldog which recently made the headlines after animal rights campaigners called for it to be renamed.

Despite the abuse that had been levelled at Mr Anderson – his stalker was eventually handed a restraining order – Mr Newton says he has received nothing but warmth since he was selected for the constituency. He is a lay reader at St Michael's Church in Penn Fields, and is about to become a school governor.

"I love it here," he says. "It's a real city, isn't it? I think that presents a lot of opportunities to make the case for Conservatives to working people with right-of-centre values: patriotic, they believe that hard work should be rewarded, tough on crime, pro-Brexit, and believe there should be absolutely no rollback in us leaving the European Union as we can be sure would happen under Labour. I feel very much at home here."

Mr Newton says he was interested in politics from a fairly early age, and was an active member of the Labour Party well into his 20s, even having his picture taken with Neil Kinnock.

"I was a branch official at one of the London branches, but for me it's a failed dogma," he says.