Geoff Norcott

"Voting Conservative is like buying a James Blunt album: loads of people have done it, but weirdly you never meet them..."

Comedian Geoff Norcott should have been Labour through and through. He grew up on a council estate, both of his parents were disabled, and his Dad was a union man. So, how was it that he grew up to vote Tory?

Through his colourful childhood in South London, we meet Geoff's vibrant family. His mother, a council estate matriarch crossed with Tony Soprano, ever willing to offer frank sexual advice or make life hell for the housing office. His maverick one-armed dad with blunt homespun philosophies on everything from punctuality to women and a dream to drive all the way around the M25. We also witness young Geoff's disastrous attempts to put out a kitchen blaze using an aerosol, and join him diving in and out of industrial skips with his best friend, as if they were holidaying in a lagoon.

The big myth about the British working-class is that they're born Left-wing and generally stay that way. The working class intention to vote Tory has frequently flirted with the 50% mark. Labour haven't won the popular vote in England since 2001. And as the Left is increasingly diverted by identity politics, the one identity they often forget is the working-class.

Written with warmth, wit and often laugh-out-loud humour, Where Did I Go Right? is Geoff's attempt to understand why he ended up voting 'for the bad guys', and the perfect place to start if you want to understand why in Britain, blue-collar conservatism might be here to stay.

First published: Thursday 13th May 2021