‘If towns and cities are the natural territory for progressive left-of-centre politicians, the countryside is the heartland of the Conservative vote, and it is no surprise that the new government is putting renewed emphasis on rural development issues’, I observed when I penned ‘About Ruralise’ almost exactly a year ago.
If you’d have told me then that within a year the Conservative-led coalition could have got so far up the noses of the National Trust, the CPRE and the Daily Telegraph that the Labour party could make a not-too-cheeky play to become ‘the party of the countryside’, I’d have laughed out loud.
Funny old game, politics!