CAN Labour ever again make an impact in the Tory heartland of Buckinghamshire?

That must be the question Chauhdry Shafique, Labour candidate for Wycombe, asked himself as he faced up to defeat last Friday morning.

Mr Shafique had been very confident of winning the constituency for his party for the first time since 1945.

His colleagues had even gone as far as starting to writing an acceptance speech just before the ballots were added up on election night.

But by 3.15am it was all over and Labour had failed again in Wycombe, and the rest of Bucks, despite the party's success nationally.

The logical conclusion has to be that if Labour can't win here at the height of its popularity it might as well not bother showing up next time.

Voting Conservative in most parts of Bucks is as natural as a countryside dweller enjoying a pleasant stroll on a Sunday afternoon.

The party has ingrained itself as the only choice of government for most people in the county for more than a 100 years.

Could anything change that?

To borrow a Marxist phrase, the seeds of the Conservative Party's own destruction in Bucks can be found in itself, not in any promises New Labour will make.

Conservatism, whatever that can be defined as, is going through the biggest identity crisis it has faced in its history.

It gloried in Thatcherism for a decade but that philosophy is now well and truly dead.

The electorate has shown that self interest, in the form of tax cuts, is no longer as important as the desire to have better public services.

Where the party goes now will decide if it keeps an iron grip when it comes to general elections in Bucks.

If it turns to the social inclusiveness, constantly talked about by leadership candidate Michael Portillo, it risks alienating its core and most loyal support forever.

Remember how badly Mr Portillo was received when he talked about Conservatives needing to be seen as a tolerant and caring party when he spoke on the conference floor.

If the party turns to the middle ground under Mr Portillo, the Conservatives may have to cut the ties which have connected them to the mindset of its Bucks heartland for decades.

This will be Labour's chance to persuade disaffected Tories here to vote for them.

In becoming electable, the Conservatives may have to make choices that will lose them votes in Bucks, but for anyone wishing to see them in Government again, it may be a price well worth paying.