Talking Telford: Could our MPs from opposite sides of the tracks become political buddy cop heroes?
Any fan of buddy cop movies where two detectives of wildly conflicting personalities are forced to work together for the greater good should keep their eyes on the newly-elected MPs for Telford and The Wrekin – sparks could fly.
For the whirling electoral fates have thrown together Labour’s Shaun Davies, who is partway through his first week as the new MP for his home town of Telford; and veteran Tory MP for The Wrekin Mark Pritchard, who last week held onto the seat he has represented since 2005, beating Labour by fewer than a thousand votes this time around in an election where so many of his Conservative colleagues were shut out by a new Red Wall.
Mr Davies may be one of Labour’s new breed of first-time MPs but he has been in the political game a long time – he joined Telford & Wrekin Council in 2011 and became leader five years later at the age of 30.
After his victory was confirmed in a hall at the Telford Tennis Centre in the wee hours of Friday, he pledged in a speech to his new constituents: “I will be all of your voices in Telford. I will be all of your voices in Parliament working nationally to deliver more locally.
