5 things we’ve learned about Labour’s “War Room”

The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour has an interesting look inside Labour’s campaign war room today, revealing the layout of the party’s HQ and insights into what makes it tick.

Here’s five quick things we learned:

1. Miliband is at the centre of the operation

This one might sound a little obvious for the leader of a political party. But in the delicate world of office politics, geography plays a big role. Ed Miliband’s corner office puts him in an egalitarian position at the centre of affairs. If how close you are to the boss’ office implies importance, then Miliband’s location sidesteps potential hierarchical grumblings.

2. There is integration of the leader’s team into party staff

Tom Baldwin, Tim Livesey Marc Stears, Bob Roberts, Paddy Hennessy, Stewart Wood, Torsten Henricson-Bell (the list goes on) – the cogs of Miliband’s core team are not bunched together, but spread throughout Brewer’s Green. Again, this avoids the problems outlined above – however, the more interesting aspect is that they are not a “unit”, but seem to be used as “points” that can co-ordinate across divisions.

3. Ed Balls’ team are integral to the operation

The Shadow Chancellor’s team very much are a unit, and as Wintour reveals are “integrated into the overall operation”. This reflects how closely the two Eds work together (no other Shadow Cabinet member has a team in Brewer’s Green) and how important economic strategy is to the Labour campaign.

4. Senior Shadow Cabinet members are incorporated into the party machine

The desk next to Shadow Chancellor’s staff places Ed Balls himself with deputy leader Harriet Harman and Shadow Foreign Secretary/election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander. Labour have been criticised in the past for not utilising the talented top table to its full potential, but it’s clear from this that behind the scenes the party’s elected politicians play a big role in running things.

5. It’s really bloody big

When Tony Blair turned up to make a motivating speech to party staff this week, he remarked: “I’m really surprised to see you all here. I was told the party was so poor, I was expecting just to see Ed and Ian, the general secretary, and an empty room.” With 250 staffers in the building, Labour have built up an impressively sized election HQ to deal with the constant nature of a modern campaign.