On the wide streets around Leeds’ Roundhay Park, Labour canvassers have built up a considerable step count just to walk between each of the stone-built mansions in one of the city’s most affluent suburbs. Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, is with activists in the sunshine admiring the manicured lawns and window-box pansies. This is one of the safest wards for Labour in Leeds, with graduates, doctors, lecturers and small business owners. In years gone by, voters in these houses with sweeping driveways and climbing roses would have been natural Conservatives. A short walk away is Roundhay sch