On the eve of the general election, Ed Miliband declared that Labour had won the 'ground war'. He proclaimed that his activists had been in touch with many more voters than his opponents: 'We have had five million conversations. This will go to the wire.'

Yet the Conservatives went on to win a majority for the first time in more than two decades - while Labour lost seats in England, and were all but wiped out in Scotland. How could they get it so wrong?

Iain Watson followed the Labour campaign around Britain, and now he examines what its senior politicians are now calling the party's 'political and organisational failures.' He exposes the high-level divisions over when to rule out a deal with the SNP, the gulf between perception and reality over Labour's level of support, and looks at the more successful campaigns of the Conservatives and Scottish Nationalists.

He sets out the challenges for the next Labour leader, having had his own conversations with voters, activists and senior party figures, and discovers there is no easy solution to the party's problems.

About the Author

IAIN WATSON is a BBC Political Correspondent who works across TV, radio and online. He reports regularly for Radio 4's Today programme and previously for BBC2's Newsnight and the flagship BBC1 political show On the Record. He extensively covered both the 2010 and 2015 general elections, spending the entire campaigns 'on the road'. He also covered the Scottish referendum. Despite being Westminster editor of the Sunday Herald, he was delighted to decamp to Edinburgh to cover the first elections to the Scottish parliament in 1999. He lives in London with his wife and son.

Reviews

A gripping, well-crafted insight into Labour's failures. - Mark Aitken, Sunday Mail

Book Information
ISBN 9781910745267
Author Iain Watson
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Luath Press Ltd
Publisher Luath Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 450g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 21mm