William Hague chose the Somerset County Gazette for his first exclusive interview of the 2001 general election.
The Conservative leader met chief reporter Phil Hill during a visit to Taunton and told him that the constituency was ‘very winnable’.
Mr Hague also gave his opinion that a large part of the General Election would be won in the South-West.
Meanwhile, all General Election candidates across the Taunton centre’s patch – covered by eight titles – have receieved guidelines on how the campaign will be reported.
Editor-in-Chief, Ken Bird, said: “We held a meeting of senior editorial staff about a month ago and formulated the document.
“It has been well received by the candidates – who have been left under no illusions about what will and will not be covered by our papers.”
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