ANDREA JENKYNS
The Sun Newspaper Article About Andrea

The Tory opera singer aiming for an election high note by squeezing Balls

Conservative Andrea could pull off shock of the election by ousting Ed. She is the unknown blonde soprano singer who gave up her job two years ago to run for Parliament – and now has Ed Balls running scared.

Meet Tory candidate Andrea Jenkyns, 40, who could pull off the shock of the General Election by ousting the Shadow Chancellor.

Tory strategists believe Ms Jenkyns could overturn Mr Balls’ wafer-thin 1,100 majority in Morley and Outwood, in west Yorkshire.

As political upsets go, it would be up there with Michael Portillo famously losing his seat to the then unknown Stephen Twigg in 1997.

And while Mr Balls remains the favourite to hang on in the key marginal, The Sun has learned that his Conservative rival is now breathing down his neck.

Yorkshire-born Ms Jenkyns also has form for winning seemingly impregnable Labour seats.

While living in Lincolnshire, she won the local borough council seat of Boston North West, despite the fact that it had been solid Labour territory for years.

After spending the last two years tirelessly campaigning in Morley and Outwood, she believes she is on the verge of pulling off another major upset.

She said: “My dad always used to say ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.

“The seat is definitely winnable.”

It was the tragic death of her ex-lorry driver dad Clifford in 2011 that set Ms Jenkyns on the path that could lead her all the way to the Commons.

He was admitted to hospital in Wakefield, west Yorkshire, with fluid on his lungs.

But he contracted the hospital superbug MRSA and died shortly afterwards.

Grief-stricken Ms Jenkyns became active with the campaign group MRSA Action UK, and eventually moved back to Yorkshire to live with her mum, Valerie.

It meant giving up her job as a music teacher and her council seat, but her political ambitions were undimmed.

She applied to be the Conservative candidate in Morley and Outwood and, following an open primary election, was selected in 2013.

As well as teaching music in various schools, she has also performed around the world — including in Pakistan — and has released an album of her own songs.

Ms Jenkyns even suggested that she and Mr Balls — who has fought a well-documented battle to master the piano — perform together to raise funds for Help for Heroes.

But unfortunately, the Labour heavyweight turned down the offer as he didn’t believe he was good enough yet to perform in concert.

David Cameron and George Osborne have both visited the seat to campaign on Ms Jenkyns’ behalf, and are expected to return before polling day — in a huge vote of confidence in her chances. http://www.sunnation.co.uk/the-tory-opera-singer-aiming-for-an-election-high-note-by-squeezing-balls/