Reshuffle good for Labour in Bexley, claims candidate

SIR KEIR STARMER’S front bench reshuffle has given Labour a boost with voters in Old Bexley and Sidcup ahead of today’s by-election, the party’s candidate has claimed.

Daniel Francis, who is running after the death of James Brokenshire in October, said that the return of Yvette Cooper had buoyed support for the party and encouraged Tories to switch.

“That was being raised yesterday on the doorstep, and people note that there are a couple of names there that are back in high-profile jobs,” he said.

“The view is that this is another demonstration that the Labour Party is getting itself in a place where it can be an effective opposition and preparing to be in government again. There are people citing that and talking about the reshuffle, and certainly in the case of the shadow home secretary, that’s an example of somebody who is back in a high profile post.”

Ms Cooper joined the shadow Cabinet from the back benches on Monday. She is a former work and pensions secretary and chair of the Commons home affairs select committee.

David Lammy, also a minister under Gordon Brown, received a promotion from shadow justice secretary to the shadow foreign affairs brief.

On Tuesday night Tory MPS were told to join a “dawn raid” in Bexley in a lastditch effort to protect their party’s majority. Mark Spencer, the chief whip, emailed MPS to ask them to go to the constituency as part of the party’s “get out the vote operation”.

He called for “as many hands as possible” to join the campaign.

The Conservative candidate, Louie French, is widely expected to be elected with a smaller majority than Brokenshire’s 19,000-vote lead over Labour.

Two senior Conservative sources said that they expected the party’s majority to be shrunk because apathetic Tory voters would decide not to vote.

“There is no love for Labour... we have seen no switchers to Labour at all,” one source said.