6th May, 2012, 6:15 pm Expectation management fail? Mark Ferguson Share this article: My attention has just been drawn to this spectacular failure of expectation management by CCHQ’s press team on Twitter from Friday morning. 700 started off as the accepted Tory figure that Labour would need to cross, but then they said: Labour gained 824 seats. Tags: CCHQ / Mark Ferguson Mark Ferguson is the Labour MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham, and was the editor of LabourList from 2010 to 2015. View all articles by Mark Ferguson Subscribe to our daily email More from LabourList Analysis Farage is a whiny winner – and that’s not attractive to voters As expected Nigel Farage has won his by-election in Clacton. In fact, from some perspectives this was a… Emma Burnell 14th August, 2026, 9:42 am Comment ‘To learn from the flag debate we have to understand values’ Recent events in Birmingham illustrate the political trap that disputes over flags can create for Labour councils. The… Chris Clarke & Pete Starkings 14th August, 2026, 6:00 am Comment ‘Give workers the security they deserve’ Labour’s manifesto pledged to ban exploitative zero-hour contracts and improve security for working people. The government passed new… Joseph Evans 14th August, 2026, 6:00 am
Mark Ferguson Mark Ferguson is the Labour MP for Gateshead Central and Whickham, and was the editor of LabourList from 2010 to 2015. View all articles by Mark Ferguson
Analysis Farage is a whiny winner – and that’s not attractive to voters As expected Nigel Farage has won his by-election in Clacton. In fact, from some perspectives this was a… Emma Burnell 14th August, 2026, 9:42 am
Comment ‘To learn from the flag debate we have to understand values’ Recent events in Birmingham illustrate the political trap that disputes over flags can create for Labour councils. The… Chris Clarke & Pete Starkings 14th August, 2026, 6:00 am
Comment ‘Give workers the security they deserve’ Labour’s manifesto pledged to ban exploitative zero-hour contracts and improve security for working people. The government passed new… Joseph Evans 14th August, 2026, 6:00 am
More from LabourList
Farage is a whiny winner – and that’s not attractive to voters
‘To learn from the flag debate we have to understand values’
‘Give workers the security they deserve’