1/5 The Sunday Times has been sold a dud by someone with an axe to grind.
Labour's targeting (though always open to debate) was rational, ICM provided weekly private polls to check trends and MPs hostile to Corbyn got support.
This is not the full list.
Labour's targeting (though always open to debate) was rational, ICM provided weekly private polls to check trends and MPs hostile to Corbyn got support.
This is not the full list.
2/5 When I started working on the campaign in early Nov, there was a target list of 96 seats, of which 30 were defensive. It comprised the Tory seats with the narrowest majorities and our most vulnerable seats. It wasn't secret, all members of the strategy team had access to it.
3/5 Just after the manifesto launch, the list was reviewed. The polls were narrowing but not as fast as we'd have liked. The scale of the problem in leave areas was becoming clear. We immediately added 16 defensive seats. After consulting the regions, we added a further 21.
4/5 There was no political bias. For example, Bishop Auckland, the constituency of fierce Corbyn critic Helen Goodman, was targeted from the outset. Stoke North, Ruth Smeeth's seat, was added to the list at the same time as Dennis Skinner's Bolsover seat.
5/5 Advocates of our U turn on a second referendum argued that we could win in Leave areas on 1/ the votes of Remainers and 2/ because most Labour Leave voters cared more about the NHS than Brexit. Many of us - including Karie Murphy - argued against this. Sadly, we were right.
PS For those not familiar with this, target seats benefit from extra support and campaign activity. This typically includes direct mail, digital advertising, newspaper advertising, staff support, shadow cabinet visits and mobilisation of activists.
