What really happened in Erith and Thamesmead?

By Teresa Pearce

Since winning the selection for Erith & Thamesmead I am usually asked three questions:

1) How did you win?
2) Why did the London Region take control of the process
3) What happened to the ballot box?

I’d like to answer as best I can in time honoured reverse order.

Third question first. I don’t know and as yet no one except the person responsible knows what happened with the ballot box. Sadly this hasn’t stopped theories being floated and accusations being made. When the vandalism took place the box was at the office of the London Regional Party and the NEC is conducting a rigorous investigation which includes the interviewing of the staff present on that day. Those members of staff have employment rights which protect them from unfounded accusations of misconduct. Therefore, frustrating though it is, we must be patient and let the enquiry run its full course to give the staff their full rights during what must be a very stressful time for them.

Second question. We don’t know why the Procedures Secretary was removed but given the subsequent events, at least, it meant that the CLP officers had no part at all in the ballot box incident.

First question. During the 5 months of the selection much was written in the press “tipping” candidates to win and stating who was and was not the frontrunner. We ignored all those stories, as they were written by people who had little understanding of the process or the rules and because they had an agenda different to ours.

From the very start, we ran our campaign as we would in any other election – by fully understanding what was needed at each stage, canvassing, doing voter ID and then getting the vote out.

We knew where our support was, we knew who was undecided, and we knew who firm supporters of other candidates were. So using our existing knowledge and communicating by personal letters, email, Twitter, Facebook and face-to-face, we covered a lot of ground with minimal resources.

Most of our CLP members are the people who stuck with Labour through the wilderness years of Tory government, who have seen lots of eye catching initiatives come and go from “Labour Listens” to the “Big Conversation” and can tell the things that matter from the things that don’t. We knew they would not be taken in by spin and gloss.

Knowing our members it was a concern that with eight candidates the amount of door knocking they would have to endure could be counter productive. Some candidates went to see members 4 or 5 times even though they had been firmly but politely told that their vote was already decided. One weekend a member had a candidate talking to him in the living room whilst two waited in the kitchen. This got too much for some and we even had a member resign so that he could be left alone. Amazingly, he still got candidates knocking.

There is a heartening lesson in all of this. Even if the national press have written you off, victory is still possible if you stay focused and do what you do best – organise.

So don’t just think that talking about “new” and “change” and “the future” can win elections. What wins is hard work, experience, strong organisation and discipline. Good ideas, not just new ideas.