They call it the chance to “bury New Labour”. Sedgefield and Hartlepool, the former seats of Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, lie about a dozen miles apart in County Durham.

It was from here, the epicentre of the party’s North East stronghold, that the pair plotted the modernisation that swept Labour to power in 1997.

Other power-brokers around their cabinet table had seats nearby - Alan Milburn in Darlington; David Miliband in South Shields.

For the Tories, the constituencies have been effectively off the political map for generations. So certain were they to stay red that it was barely worth putting in a challenge. Until now.

“I was dubious when I saw the first few media reports,” says Dehenna Davison, the 23-year-old fighting Mr Blair’s old seat for the Conservatives.