BORIS’S BLUE WALL

Dolphin trainer, TV quiz show winner and even a union rep... the 109 new Tory MPs

Among the wave of 109 new Tory mPs who demolished Labour’s ‘Red Wall’, there isn’t a single old Etonian in sight. Instead, the Tories’ latest cohort couldn’t provide a better portrait of contemporary Britain...

Father killed in a pub fight

DEHENNA DAVISON, 26

Constituency: Bishop Auckland, majority of 7,962. First time seat has been represented by the Tories since it was created in 1885.

Family: Grew up on a council estate in Sheffield. Her father, a stone mason, was killed by a blow to the head in a pub fight when she was 13. She is separated from her husband John Fareham, who is 35 years her senior. They appeared last year in a Channel 4 documentary, Bride and Prejudice, about couples overcoming opposition from family and friends to their marriage.

Education: Privately educated at Sheffield High School after winning a scholarship. Studied politics at Hull University.

Occupation: Former computer game shop worker who spent a year working for Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Fun fact: Has a tattoo of her dog mocked up as a Harry Potter character.

The openly gay Muslim

IMRAN AHMAD KHAN, 47

Constituency: Wakefield, majority of 3,358. The first time the constituency has voted Tory since 1931.

Family: His father was a doctor, his mother an NHS nurse. Made history as the first openly gay Muslim elected politician in the world.

Education: Privately educated, he studied Russian at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow and War Studies at King’s College London.

Occupation: Worked for the United Nations, advertising agency M&C Saatchi and as a counter-terrorism expert.

Fun fact: As a late replacement candidate, he was accused by Labour of being parachuted into Wakefield. The local lad’s response? By literally parachuting in.

TV quiz show winner

AARON BELL, 39

Constituency: Newcastle-under-Lyme, majority of 7,446. First time Labour has relinquished the seat in more than 130 years. Family: Married with three children. Education: St Olave’s grammar school, Kent. Then studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford. Occupation: Business analyst who launched a financial technology firm. Fun fact: He is a brainiac who has appeared on various TV quiz shows and walked away with £25,000 on Deal or No Deal. Reached the University Challenge final in 2001.

The dolphin trainer

VIRGINIA CROSBIE, 50

Constituency: Ynys Mon, majority of 1,968. First Tory in the constituency since 1979. Family: Grandfather was a coal miner in Merthyr Tydfil. Mother worked in a jam factory in Essex. Married with three children. Education: Colchester County High, a grammar school, becoming first person in her family to take A-levels. Studied microbiology at Queen Mary, University of London, and management at the University of Westminster. Occupation: Worked for a pharmaceutical company before moving to HSBC. Retrained as a maths teacher working with young adults in north London. Fun fact: Worked as a dolphin trainer at Woburn Safari Park with the presenter Terry Nutkins on the BBC’s Animal Magic show.

Campaigning since 13

ELLIOT COLBURN, 27

Constituency: Carshalton and Wallington, majority of 629. Family: Brought up by working class parents in the area. After enduring homophobic abuse during the campaign, he delivered a smacker of a kiss on the lips of his partner Jed at the count. Education: Local comprehensive and studied politics at Aberystwyth University. Knocked on his first door for the Tories aged 13. Occupation: Public affairs officer for the NHS. Fun fact: His partner edits a poultry magazine and they regularly take their own poultry to shows.

Youngest Tory MP

SARA BRITCLIFFE, 24

Constituency: of 2,951. Family: Her victory was sweet revenge for her father Peter, who twice tried and failed to win the

Hyndburn, majority constituency for the Tories.

Education: Modern languages graduate from Manchester University Occupation: Used to run a sandwich shop. Fun fact: The Tories’ youngest MP, at the age of 22 she took a gap year from university to be the youngest Mayoress in the country – when she officiated by the side of her father, a councillor for more than 30 years, in Hyndburn.

The LGBT activist

MARK FLETCHER, 34

Constituency: Bolsover, majority of 5,299. Defeated Dennis Skinner, the so-called Beast of Bolsover, 87, the MP since 1970. Family: Grew up in Doncaster. Lived on his own after his mother died when he was 17. Outspoken LGBT activist who met his partner at university. Education: Went to a local state school and was president of the Cambridge University Students’ Union for two years. Occupation: Worked for a private health company and as chief adviser to Lord Popat of Harrow. Fun fact: Helped write a book called: ‘A British Subject. How to make it as an immigrant in the best country in the world.’

Trade union rep

JONATHAN GULLIS, 29,

Constituency: Stoke- on-Trent North, majority of 6,286. First Tory MP since the constituency was created in 1950. Family: Father was a cleaner at the local school who went to night school and ended up at Durham University gaining a Masters degree. His grandfather was a lorry driver. Education: Local state school.

Joined Tory Party aged 18.

Occupation: Birmingham secondary school teacher. unusually for a Tory, he is the school’s trade union representative.

Fun fact: Hours after being made an MP, he rushed back to the classroom to teach his pupils.

Joined miners’ strike

LEE ANDERSON, 52

Constituency: Ashfield, majority of 5,733. The second time the constituency has ever had a Tory MP.

Family: Son of a coal miner. His wife Sinead was subjected to abuse by hard- Left activists, despite undergoing a double lung transplant on the NHS.

Education. Attended the local state school.

Occupation: A miner for 12 years, he was a member of Arthur Scargill’s National union of Mineworkers and went on strike in 1984. Later worked in homeless hostels before becoming office manager for the Labour MP Gloria De Piero. Frustrated with Labour’s Brexit stance, he quit last year and joined the Tories.

Fun fact: Caught staging a doorstep encounter while on the campaign trail with Michael Crick for Mail Plus.

Former rail guard

CHRIS LODER, 38

Constituency: West Dorset, majority of 14,106 and a swing of 4.5 per cent.

Family: Grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in Dorset where he still lives.

Education: Attended the local state comprehensive and never went to university.

Occupation: Worked as a train guard and eventually became head of new trains at South Western Railway. A member of the RMT union, he crossed a picket line last month to try to keep South Western trains running.

Fun fact: Is a church organist and church bell ringer.

Trained in army cadets

ANTONY HIGGINBOTHAM, 30

Constituency: Burnley, majority of 1,352. First Tory MP in the town since 1910.

Family: Grandmother was a nurse and his mother was a trade union representative. Father held two jobs to try to make ends meet. Single and openly gay.

Education: Local state school and the first of his family to go to university. Studied politics at Hull.

Occupation: Worked in the NHS and then joined NatWest to help customers prepare for life after the Eu.

Fun fact: Claims his political outlook was inspired by his time in Lancashire’s Army Cadet Force.