Yesterday he said the coalition was a civil partnership, not a marriage, and spoke of the distant cousins
in rural seats who were opposed to it.
The priority would then be to ensure the right Labour candidates
in rural seats.
Profile: An affluent and
mainly rural seat, the main towns are Dorchester, Bridport, the coastal resort of Lyme Regis, Beaminster and Sherborne.
With their south western heartland and
rural seats so vulnerable can he divert scarce resources to expansionary campaigning?
The free vote on foxhunting might not be worth the trouble, depending on how many Lib Dem MPs come
from rural seats.
This was largely due to the rules surrounding redrawing constituencies, which then
allowed rural seats (where the Conservatives tended to win) to have somewhat smaller electorates than urban seats.
Profile: A
large rural seat covering the south - eastern part of Wiltshire, it includes part of the West Wiltshire Downs AONB and the New Forest in the south, then the southern part of Salisbury plain, including Stonehenge.
Ley's plan for a private members bill to ban the live trade is unlikely to ever reach the floor of Parliament for a vote, but it is a noteworthy intervention given she represents
a rural seat and has a farming background.
There are 199
rural seats in England and Wales, of which 29 were in Labour hands prior to the last General Election.
The rural seat, held by Sir Michael Spicer for the last 36 years, could go orange if Richard Burt's campaign succeeds.