Standing on the sands looking out towards the pier, Bayo Alaba is one of the Labour candidates hoping the tide is turning in seats such as Southend East and Rochford.
Long neglected by Labour, the seat is one of the Tory strongholds that could go red, with Alaba emblematic of a new kind of Labour candidate, a businessman and former parachute regiment soldier who spent D-day doing a sponsored jump for the Royal British Legion.
Alaba says: "This has been a Labour ambition that has never been realised. We are backing ourselves. We can talk to people here, we can support their lives and community. Southend is full of working people, independently minded, and they are frustrated with the state of their city."
Essex man is a totemic concept for the Tories: patriotic, self-made and first associated with backing Margaret Thatcher. Labour held a clutch of seats during the Blair years but since the party has been out of government none has ever returned. Yet now the county is firmly in the sights of Labour strategists for Keir Starmer to better Tony Blair's 1997 majority, the only way is Essex.
The Labour leader has visited Thurrock twice in the past month, with shadow cabinet ministers flocking to Harlow, Southend and Colchester. Polls predict as many as nine seats could go red, but voters on many doorsteps are still telling candidates that they are undecided.
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