Chris McCafferty is the Labour candidate for the Calder Valley. The incumbent conservative MP is Sir Donald Thompson. She works at the Well Woman Clinic, he wants to eat beef and hang people. In the 1997 General Election, it is seats like this one that either herald a "New Labour Britain" or produce more of the same. The author follows these two very different politicians in the lead-up to the election in a markedly divided borough - from the remote, broke Todmorden, to Brighouse with its brass band and blue-rinse Tories. In the upper valley, red posters decorate the windows of every house, yet behind are places where "if you put a blue ribbon on a pig they'd vote for it". He gauges the mood of the voters; do they vote with their wallets? Do they think voting makes any difference?