Thread by @FisherAndrew79

Five years ago today, I was working in Labour HQ on the #GE2017 campaign

In two days’ time the manifesto was going before the Clause V meeting of 80 delegates for sign-off, before its launch the following week

Just after 9pm, an ashen-looking @schneiderhome approached me… 🧵

He told me that the Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph had the manifesto, and were going to publish it

I had been working over 100 hours a week, non-stop writing, editing and negotiating - alongside a brilliant team doing similarly

I was gutted and angry, wondering “HOW?”

Most other senior staff & politicians were in another meeting, which I'd missed to focus on final edits before Clause V

A febrile inquiry and crisis management plan kicked into gear immediately. This had never happened before in British electoral history

Let’s start with how…

The day before, following weeks of prior negotiations, a reps from each of Labour’s affiliated unions were invited into a room, their phones confiscated, and numbered, paper copies given out

They were supervised and all copies were collected back at the end. It wasn’t them …

Earlier that day, at their request, I'd sent the current version of the manifesto to Jeremy Corbyn and to Deputy Leader Tom Watson

Suspicion fell on the far from loyal deputy

Soon after 10pm the leaked manifesto was published. It wasn’t the updated version. So they were clear…

Who did that leave? The only other recipients were to Scottish and Welsh Labour.

The UK manifesto does not wholly apply in Scotland and Wales, as they have devolved powers over several areas of policy.

They get an early draft so that they can start adapting their sections…

We wouldn't find out for weeks, but I was later told by the senior Labour staffer who investigated that the leak had come from the Scottish Labour office.

The leak was an attempt to sabotage the party, and the headlines the next morning reflected that ...

As acts of sabotage go, it probably backfired more than any other in political history

It generated massive coverage and discussion of radical and interesting policy.

@bbclaurak said "This will be an election where voters will not be able to say 'they're all the same'"

But in the short term it caused problems. The day after those headlines, Clause V delegates (many not on the left of the party) would meet to agree the manifesto. What if they wanted substantial changes?

And that morning Jeremy was due to launch a poster attacking the Tories…

That was pulled, and an heroic @GwynneMP did a full media round to walk the line of syaing these are our ideas, but not yet our manifesto, while not distancing himself from any of them

Andrew was up half the night with me and others being briefed on policy and media lines 🦸‍♂️

The next day, the manifesto was agreed with only a few minor tweaks and was now ready for its official launch at Bradford University on 16 May 2017.

But the Clause V meeting wasn't entirely smooth. On the way in Jeremy's driver ran over a photographer's foot and on the way out…

The official manifesto launch 'For The Many, Not the Few' was a massive success, with the brilliant design unveiled.

At the start of the campaign, Labour had been 25 points behind the Conservatives in the polls. We closed the gap to just 2.4% and took away the Tories' majority…

In 2017, Labour gained seats in a general election for the first time since 1997. Labour added 30 MPs and 3.5 million votes from just two years earlier.

Labour's share of the vote had increased by more than at any time since 1945.

And why ..?

Manifestos are very much a collective effort. I had an amazing policy team (especially Mary, Jennifer, Lachlan & Mark); great input and advice from trade unions, politicians & others

The design team in HQ made that iconic cover, and the events team made the launch spectacular…

I suppose I should thank whoever leaked it too (despite nearly giving me a coronary 5 years ago today)

If you want to read more about the campaign I suggest Kavanagh & Cowley's tome or @alexnunns' updated Candidate

You can read the 2017 manifesto labour.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
🧵ends