As someone who worked for Labour in a Tory marginal and got our candidate Cat Smith elected on a Socialist ticket.
Lancaster and Fleetwood is a highly marginal seat, we won by being true to core Labour values.
Not once did I hear we were anti business or being against wealth creation. What was common was insecurity, threats to the environment from Fracking, public sector pay freezes And the most common was ZERO hour contracts from a diverse range of voters all concerned about poor pay, the one sided contracts.
I get the impression these candidates were checked for Blairite tendencies, they were all middle class PEE graduates.
Cat came from a working class background. gave up 2 years of her life, lives in the city and spent countless hours talking and building relationships with local people.
That's how you win elections We had a huge army of volunteers door knocking ( it does work, ask the Tories and they tell it does).
We also had a large Voter Registration drive, that is something that thankfully even Harriet Harman sussed is a big issue. Apathy, a split between two nationalist parties did us in as well as failing the leadership failing to defend their record in office and oppose austerity.
Plus these Kendalites, wouldnt have got their hands dirty at the coalface of 'building relationships' by meeting people in their own homes, listening to them and being genuine human being and having a personality, a sense of humour and not take life seriously, instead of some false and wishy washy Blairite with sound bites.
Northerns can smell Blairites a mile off, they get told to foxtrot Oscar on the doorsteps.
If Labour failed to connect how the feck do they explain Dennis Skinner's continued electoral success? Leftwing candidates winning ?
Being Tory lite like the Fibbers were, was catastrophic. Let's be true to our roots.
