It's Erdington vs Islington on new map of politics

Welcome to Erdington - home of 'fed up Britain' and the town which gave two-fingers to the EU

It's funny how often place names help to define our politics. Let's start with the biggest and most notorious of all:

'Iraq' - It came to represent not just the invasion and its aftermath, but also the Blair government's perceived style of 'sofa government', 'dodgy documents' and a 'contempt for Parliament'.

'Worcester Woman' - She never existed of course but that did not stop her from becoming the archetypal swing voter in a marginal constituency where elections were won and lost. And where might that be?

'Middle England' - That's where!

It was meant as a sociological term but of course we corrupted it to refer to our region's catalogue of Midlands swing seats.

But now, suddenly, we are told it's all change thanks to the EU Referendum. Brexit Britain needs a new political map.

The old assumptions about Left and Right look increasingly out-of-date when we now have a Conservative Prime Minister talking about 'burning injustice', calling for workers on boards and railing against company bosses not paying enough tax and amassing personal fortunes while their employees' pension schemes teeter on the brink.

So which places are the Westminster-watchers talking about now?

'Erdington' - Yes, Erdington! Suddenly this little-known northeast corner of Birmingham, one of the poorest places in Britain, is emerging as the latest addition to that jargon.

Sandwiched between the revitalised city centre and leafy Sutton Coldfield, it shares few obvious benefits of its nearness to either. It is, perhaps, typical of what's becoming known as 'fed-up Britain' which expressed a general sense of frustration.

The leaders of our political parties may not agree about much but they have no doubt about the where the forthcoming electoral action is.

That may be one reason why 'Erdington' finds itself highlighted on the political map as never before.

But the main one is that it just happens to be where Theresa May's Joint Chief of Staff Nick Timothy grew up. It symbolises his increasingly pervasive influence in the government and in its oft-repeated mantra: "A country that works for everyone not just the privileged few."

Theresa May is clearly parking her tanks in those areas of the electoral battlefield where UKIP have prospered and which she believes Labour have vacated.

Not surprisingly, Jeremy Corbyn sees things very differently. And yet, in their various ways, he and she are both addressing a similar sense of grievance and disillusionment.

'Islington' - Once the home of the Islington set, the 'Champagne socialists', behind the Blairite New Labour project, the area just north of central London has now become the power base of what the 'Corbynistas' see as their authentic brand of socialism.

Fed-up Britain - are things really that bad?

During my conversation with him during the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Jeremy Corbyn's language bore little resemblance to Mrs May's.

It was clear that they are both addressing similar sections of the community. He told me of his particular concern for those places which have been "left behind".

During his recent leadership campaign he had met people in Stoke-on-Trent, which recorded Britain's highest Leave vote of almost 70%. He believes their biggest worries are "jobs, health, housing and education, and that's what we are concentrating on."

Overwhelmingly re-elected as Labour leader, Mr Corbyn reshuffled his shadow ministerial team in a show of renewed confidence in his mandate to make new connections with local communities where many people feel neglected and ignored. None of our region's MPs had supported him in the election. Nevertheless five local MPs have made it onto his new front bench: the Deputy Leader, and West Bromwich MP Tom Watson, Walsall South's Valerie Vaz, Birmingham Northfield's Richard Burden, Perry Barr's Khalid Mahmood and Birmingham Erdington's Jack Dromey.

Erdington again!

And Mr Dromey will be among our studio guests in this weekend's Sunday Politics Midlands for one of his first appearances in the new role of Labour's labour spokesman.

I'll be just as keen to ask him how 'Erdington' looks from Erdington.

Also joining us will be Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, recently awarded her first job in Government by Mrs May as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the other Johnson, Boris's younger brother Jo, the Minister for Universities and Science in the Business Department.

I wonder if she can tell me how 'Islington' looks from Aldridge!

See for yourself in Sunday Politics Midlands from 11.00 on BBC One this Sunday 16 October.