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STORY OF A SEAT Kelly is part of the new

29th July 2010, Page 14
29th July 2010
Page 14
Page 14, 29th July 2010 — STORY OF A SEAT Kelly is part of the new
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wave Conservative of MPs who came close to winning and the seat itself tells the story of British politics in the past 15 years,

The constituency used to be Dudley West (before some gerrymandering in 1997 created Dudley South) and was a typical Conservative stronghold.

John Blackburn was its MP from 1979 until his death in 1994. The subsequent by-election was Tony Blair's first test at the polls after he became leader of the Labour Party and Ian Pearson was Dudley South's MP until he stepped down in 2010. Kelly won the 2010 election with 43% of the vote, while his nearest competitor, Labour's Rachel Harris, garnered 33% of the vote. It was a swing of 9.5% from Labour to the Conservatives.