In a cramped motel meeting room just off the M6, six men and four women are talking about politics. They don’t know it as they chat but their grouping has been carefully chosen.

Demographically each would be characterised as working class. All voted Labour in the 2015 general election but some have switched to the Tories or the Brexit Party. All have said they’re not certain which way they will vote now.

The location has also been selected deliberately. Stoke-on-Trent North has a Labour majority of 2,300 but in the 2016 EU referendum almost 70 per cent of the constituency voted Leave. It is a seat — and these are the voters — Boris Johnson must win over if he is to offset the constituencies