THIS week I'm taking a break from the local political scene to start a series of interviews on the prospective parliamentary candidates for the Wycombe constituency.

THIS week I'm taking a break from the local political scene to start a series of interviews on the prospective parliamentary candidates for the Wycombe constituency.

You would think that after the Government's dramatic slump in popularity in the wake of the fuel crisis, Labour candidate Chauhdry Shafique would be feeling a bit down in the dumps about his chances of success at the next election.

However, I found the Wycombe district councillor for Oakridge and Tinkers Wood in high spirits and full of confidence about becoming the first Labour MP for Wycombe since John Hare took the seat in 1945.

Mr Shafique believes the present polls are just a blip and that public opinion will change again when the facts about taxation and oil prices become clearer. He said the British people would not expect the Government to succumb to threats from special interest groups.

The 50-year-old, who is director of equal opportunities and community development at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, is very much a local boy made good.

He was born in Pakistan and arrived in High Wycombe at the age of 13. He has lived in the town ever since and studied at BCUC where he returned as a lecturer in 1986.

Mr Shafique feels his strong connections have helped him to understand the community that makes up High Wycombe.

To win the seat, however, he would have to overturn a Conservative majority of more than 2,000. A recent report on the front page of the Guardian newspaper described Wycombe as a no-hope seat for Labour and said the party should be doing more to put ethnic candidates in winnable constituencies.

Mr Shafique said he was very surprised to find he had been written off and defended Labour's record for being an inclusive party in terms of ethnicity and race - 'a 2,000 difference hardly makes it a no-hope seat. Wycombe is definitely a marginal seat and is a strong prospect for a Labour victory at the next general election'.

If Mr Shafique wins, he promises to be a 'people's MP' readily accessible to anybody in the local community.

Mr Shafique is married to Perveen and has four children.

He has a number of other active roles in the community as a non-executive director of Bucks Housing Association, a board member of the Bucks Lifelong Learning Partnership, and a member of an anti-burglary project.