Tories woo 'Holby City woman'

Patsy Kensit is a star of the BBC's Holby City drama

We've had Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman.  The Sunday Times believes that the focus of David Cameron's political strategy is now “Holby City woman”.  Named after the BBC1 hospital drama The Sunday Times' Jonathan Oliver quotes a "senior Tory strategist" describing this new inspiration for party strategy:

"The new target voter is a woman in her thirties or early forties, who is likely to do a responsible clinical or clerical job in the NHS. She worries about the future of the health service, but also about the state of her children’s schools, the fate of her ageing parents, and also the cost of childcare.  We are not really talking about the well-off doctors or senior managers. They are now quite likely to back us anyway. It’s the people doing important but less glamorous jobs earning around £30,000 who might have voted Labour in the past, but are now disaffected by the macho culture that surrounds Gordon Brown.”

The commitment to ringfence NHS spending, provide more maternity support, tackle low-level crime, help parents get access to new schools and the promotion of female candidates are all said to be part of the woo-ing of Holby City Woman.

Tim Montgomerie