Nobody would doubt that Merseyside is a Labour region.
All five of Liverpool's parliamentary constituencies are represented by Labour MPs, while Southport's MP Damien Moore provides the only blue on Merseyside's electoral map. Having faced brutal spending cuts over the past decade after struggling through the Thatcher government in the 1980s, there is limited love for the Conservative Party on Merseyside - on the whole, the region is as firm a Labour stronghold as it gets,
Though Mr Moore is the only Conservative MP in the region, there are plenty of Tory representatives in the House of Commons who were born in or have links to this region. Unsurprisingly, these politicians had to move away in order to get elected.
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Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire and former Culture Secretary, was brought up in Anfield before moving to Runcorn, Cheshire. Tatton MP Esther McVey was born in West Derby, while Suffolk Coastal MP and Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey was born in St Helens, before going to school at St Mary's Crosby and St Edwards in West Derby.
Rossendale and Darwen MP and former Tory Chairman Jake Berry is a Scouser, while another former Education Secretary and North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse is from Aigburth and attended Liverpool College.
Mr Malthouse did have a run at the Wavertree constituency in 1997, but did not win. After a spell in Westminster Council and in the London Assembly, he became London's Deputy Mayor for Policing before winning election in Hampshire in 2015. Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland was also born in Liverpool and studied at Liverpool University, before moving down south to win his seat.
A member of the cabinet with a Merseyside upbringing is Gillian Keegan. The Chichester MP and Education Secretary was born in Leigh, Greater Manchester but grew up in Knowsley, working at a Kirkby car factory from the age of 16.
Ms Keegan then attended Liverpool John Moores, gaining a degree in business before working at a number of companies including NatWest and MasterCard. In 2015 she unsuccessfully ran for election as a Conservative in the St Helens South and Whiston constituency before winning her Chichester seat two years later.
In November, Ms Keegan spoke to the BBC's Nick Robinson on his 'Political Thinking' podcast about her unlikely route to a Conservative cabinet and what inspired her political beliefs.
Growing up in the 1980s, Ms Keegan said that members of her family - like many in Merseyside - had no time for Margaret Thatcher, but her views were shaped by the Liverpool Council which clashed with Mrs Thatcher at the time. She told the BBC: "I think for most people who are Conservative who come out of Liverpool, Derek Hatton may have been a part of their journey."
She went on to describe Mr Hatton's tenure as the council's deputy leader as an example of "how not to run things in life", explaining that the Militant tendency's prominence in Liverpool in the 1980s led her to the Conservative Party.
Ms Keegan is not the only of the aforementioned MPs to cite this time as significant in their politics. In January 2018, responding to a Sunday Times article about left-wing group Momentum potentially "taking control" of Haringey Council, Mr Malthouse said: "Those of us brought up in Liverpool know exactly where this is going" in what appeared to be a reference to Militant.
Though the Thatcher government's overriding legacy in Merseyside is fervent Labour support in most areas, Ms Keegan and Mr Malthouse views suggest that Militant's battle with Mrs Thatcher shaped their right-wing views.
Despite the polarised nature of Liverpool's 1980s politics and Merseyside's ongoing support for Labour, Ms Keegan told Nick Robinson she does not face hostility from her home region. She said: "People generally are not hostile when you meet them face to face and individually."
Ms Keegan added: "You're talking about political activism, you're talking about Militant and the divisions that were there in Liverpool, talking about the hard things that the city went through with the deindustrialisation.
"So there was a lot of change. But when you meet people individually, they're very fair. They are funny. And I am very, very proud of being from Liverpool."
Whether the majority of Liverpool and Merseyside is proud about its representation in the upper echelons of the Tory party is another thing entirely.
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