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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Essex man
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Phrase coined in a 1990 Sunday Telegraph profile of a fictional right-wing working-class Tory – the voter who more than any other had kept the Conservatives in power during the *Thatcher years. Headed 'Mrs Thatcher's bruiser', the article defined Essex man as ruthlessly self-interested, philistine, lager-swilling, racist, and a likely Rottweiler-owner if only he had time to walk the animal. The link with Essex was two-fold: it is the nearest country area for the upwardly mobile to move into from the East End of London; and in recent elections the county had sent many Tory hard-liners to Westminster, Norman *Tebbit being defined as 'ur-Essex man'. Subsequently Essex girl became the butt of a string of sexist and snobbish jokes.
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Basildon, a town in Essex, reinforced the stereotype at the 1992 general election. It was the first constituency to declare a result, and it accurately implied a stronger level of Conservative support in the country than the polls had predicted.
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