Dateline: May 2

If Logies aren’t your thing, Dateline on SBS this Sunday turns its attention to the upcoming UK election.

It was shaping up to be the world’s most boring election, but suddenly the race to win government in the UK on May 6 is wide open.

With the Liberal Democrats now surging in the polls, the Conservatives are attempting a wholesale make-over, shifting their image from ‘old-school Tory’ to a greener, more centrist and progressive party.

Dateline’s Sophie McNeill follows Tory candidates David Gold and Loanna Morrison in the final week of campaigning.

Morrison is a black immigrant and single mother. Gold is the Tories’ first openly gay candidate.

“When an openly gay man…can stand for parliament in a marginal, winnable seat in southeast London…and not have any sort of prejudice against him…I think not only has the party changed, I think the country has changed,” Gold tells McNeill.

“I’m hoping that my presence in this campaign will wake people up, especially black people, and say…don’t just go out and vote blindly,” Morrison says.

Conservative commentator Tim Montgomery tells McNeill: “David Cameron is actually pursuing an incredibly interesting attempt to redefine conservatism in the post Thatcher-Regan-Howard era.”

But the Tory make-over may not be enough to secure them outright victory in the UK, with the Liberal-Democrats’ extraordinary boost in popularity fuelling speculation that Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg may hold the balance of power after next week’s elections.

And while many Tory voters support the new-look party, questions have been raised about a genuine commitment to David Cameron’s changes, after the Shadow Home Secretary was caught recently making anti-gay remarks.

It airs 8:30pm Sunday on SBS.