In this month’s elections, it wasn’t so much “change” people wanted as a sense that the candidate who got their respect – and vote – was involved in their community and prepared to talk about their concerns.
That experience is based on working for Labour in Lewisham East’s parliamentary election and standing as a party candidate in the local election. The Liberal Democrats had all but wiped Labour out in the 2006 locals, leaving no overall majority in Lewisham’s council chamber. That gave them the impetus, they believed, to win this year’s parliamentary, mayoral and council elections.
We had been working ever since 2006 to overcome that salutary defeat – caused by a run-down party membership, neglect of working class tenants and opposition from a professional public sector middle class, many of them anti-war, pro-civil liberties and against private money in public services. There may also have been a perception that Labour had been in power for too long – since 1972 in Lewisham.
To turn this round, extra resources were put into the wards deemed most winnable, with regular leaflets and canvassing. Boundary changes, gaining us two wards with a veteran core of activists, helped considerably.
Results in both the London mayoral and European elections – in common with other inner London areas – reinforced our sense that we could retain the Westminster seat and recover our council majority.
That confidence was shaken last year by the drip-drip revelations about MPs’ expenses, which generated real hostility on the doorstep.
Our MP Bridget Prentice’s decision to retire provided us with time to select our own candidate without central party interference and give her replacement some time to establish an identity before the general election. Respect for Bridget across the internal political divide and among her electorate would prove a big asset.
Her successor, Heidi Alexander, a local councillor and deputy mayor, had proved adept at resolving political conflict and local controversy. As a worker and campaigner, she was tireless and effective in galvanising others.
Across the constituency, canvassing records, dating back to 1997 in many areas, were transformed with weekly door-to-door canvasses in many wards and regular phone canvassing from the constituency offices. Earlier-than-usual selections of council candidates had “action teams” in place from last summer.
In my home ward of Lee Green, a mix of public sector professionals, skilled owner-occupiers and two relatively small housing estates, we had a further challenge – the Lib Dem councillors replacing Labour ones had proved better at tackling local issues.
Sixteen years as a Deptford-based councillor, during which time I had served as chair of education and council leader, before resigning in 2002 were of little help when I’d stood in Lee Green in 2006 – although living locally probably helped me reduce the margin of defeat to 75 votes.
If we were to regain the seat, we had to place ourselves in the heart of the community. That meant joining local groups and campaigning on local issues.
Mayor Steve Bullock’s local democracy strategy crucially provided every ward with a local assembly, in which residents chose their local priorities and then how much to spend on them from £50,000 budgets. In Lee Green, we got involved.
The campaign strategy, shared I’m sure with other constituencies with a strong Lib Dem presence, was to target “still undecided” but former Labour supporters who overwhelmingly preferred a Labour to a Tory government. But we were uncertain whether improved turnout generated by national elections would help us this time, or what the impact of extra postal voting would be.
Slowly, the undecided were making up their minds. Anecdotal evidence included Lib Dem-leaning voters who decided for Gordon Brown after the “bullying” allegations, changing their minds either because they had had enough of the attempts to demean him or thought it important to have a strong-willed leader.
Strategy and tactics seemed to be working. Then came the first leaders’ debate and everything seemed to change.
Everyday canvassing assumed even greater importance. The more people we contacted, the better chance we had of heading off the surge. Those last few weeks of the campaign were among the toughest, yet most engrossing of my life.
The Lib Dems increased their leafleting, all of them calling for change, all juxtaposing photos of Clegg and their local candidates, all using dubious sets of figures to demonstrate they could win.
We continued to promote a positive, local message, leafleting schools, stations and other wards during the day, returning to canvass in our own wards in the evenings and on weekends. Even “bigot-gate” didn’t deflect us.
By polling day, we believed Heidi would keep the parliamentary seat, but that we might struggle to win enough seats to regain control of Lewisham council.
In the event, our hard work, never sacrificing voter contact for over-leafleting (as the Lib Dems had), paid off. Heidi Alexander won the Parliamentary seat by more than 6,000 votes, Steve Bullock was returned as mayor by 16,000 votes and Labour has its council majority back, with 39 of 54 seats
. As for me, I got in, overtaking two of three Lib Dems, and one of my fellow candidates missed out by 69 votes while finishing ahead of the third Lib Dem.
Lessons for Labour nationally? “New” Labour is anathema to most people. Politicians at all levels have to ground themselves in their communities – as opposed to centrally-generated messages – so they can gain local respect while promoting policies that are founded on Labour’s principles.
