‘Inside the Wellingborough by-election: The tactics behind Labour’s historic win’

Winning the Wellingborough by-election and overturning an 18,000 Tory majority was a stunning win for Labour and a turning point for Northamptonshire.

The national context made it possible, with opinion poll leads reflecting Labour’s transformation to become a party ready again to win and govern.  Other by-elections, like Mid-Beds just down the road, made it seem likely, or perhaps even inevitable, that Labour would win here.

But looking at the numbers, there was no doubt that this would be a really tough election.

It is 12 years since a Labour MP was elected anywhere in Northamptonshire and 23 years since Labour last won Wellingborough.There was a mountain to climb.

Everything had to go right, from the choice of candidate, to the strategy, organisation and delivery of a winning campaign.

Gen was ready early, and five pledges reflected local priorities

Today’s the day!

On the doors for @Gvkitchen with @keircozens this polling day in #Wellingborough 🗳️🌹more people are voting Labour than ever before in Wollaston. It’s time for change with @UKLabour pic.twitter.com/aPgrMJ4mPD

— Claire Tighe (@claire_tigher) February 15, 2024

Gen Kitchen was already committed to becoming Labour’s candidate for Wellingborough before the by-election was triggered. Gen has local roots and a track record as a parliamentary candidate in the next door South Northamptonshire seat at the last general election.

At the hustings meeting, which I chaired, I saw how Gen won the support of local members, with ideas to connect with local voters by talking about the bread-and-butter issues that matter to people. She was an outstanding candidate, and will be a great representative for her constituents.

The campaign was brilliantly organised by the regional office team with input from colleagues from HQ, and Chesterfied MP Toby Perkins as the political lead. Toby, who first won his seat from the Lib Dems in 2010, against the national swing, is one of Labour’s most experienced and effective campaigners.

The campaign didn’t promise the earth.  There were five local pledges, focussing on the issues that were most on the mind of local people.  Beyond this, Gen offered ‘a fresh start’, a campaign message that pointed both to the need for a change locally and in the country.

Gen followed up personally with the undecided

The ground campaign was delivered by mobilising members from across the area to deliver leaflets and knock thousands of doors – and ring doorbells – in every town and village in the constituency.

With hard work and many conversations, including the candidate following up personally with undecided voters, people were persuaded to give Gen Kitchen and Labour a chance. Voter promises on the doorstep are one thing, but turnout was always going to be a challenge in Mid February.

To make it harder, the Met Office was predicting a winter snow storm on polling day.  Nothing was being left to chance and there were even jokes about whether sledges might be needed to help people get to the polls.

When polling day did arrive, it was unseasonably warm and bright.  The perfect conditions to ask voters to go to the polls and support the positive campaign and fresh start Labour’s Gen Kitchen was offering.

New technology was trialled for the first time

New technology was trialled for the first time, using a smartphone app to deliver a paperless polling day.

It was a managed risk, and there was a back-up plan, but in the event, it worked smoothly, enabling live updates to data throughout the day.  As a bonus, polling day was a highly effective real-time training opportunity.

While Labour motivated people to go the polls, the Tories seemed to repel them. They experienced the largest drop in the Conservative vote share in a by-election ever.

Labour achieved a swing of 28.5%, only just under the highest ever achieved in Dudley West in 1994 where the swing was 29.2%.

It suits the Tories to say they didn’t try

The Tories have said that Labour ‘threw the kitchen sink’ at this election.  That isn’t the case.

I can see why it suits them to say they didn’t really try, but they must have spent a fortune on direct mail, pumping out relentless negative campaigning.

As for Labour, from the outset, there was a feeling that the by-election needed to be balanced with the importance of continued campaigning in other constituencies, as we are in General Election year.

An important factor in the win was that throughout the campaign there was brilliant teamwork from Labour’s parliamentary candidates and members across Northamptonshire.

The road to Downing Street runs through our swing county, which in 1997 returned five Labour MPs.   While we still have a mountain to climb in the coming months, Gen Kitchen’s election has pointed the way.

Read more on the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections:

• Luke Akehurst: ‘No battleground seat can be taken for granted – not one GE vote’s been cast’
• Inside the Wellingborough campaign: The tactics behind Labour’s historic win’
• Wellingborough and Kingswood by-election triumphs: Four key takeaways
• Wellingborough: Meet MP Genevieve Kitchen after huge swing
• Kingswood: Meet new Labour MP Damien Egan
• Gen Kitchen: ‘I cut short my honeymoon to win this by-election’
• Gen Kitchen hopes for ‘domino effect’ in East Midlands from by-election win
• Kingswood candidate warns Labour has “mountain to climb” to win by-election