TORY LEADER HITS OUT AT ‘CONTROLLED’ CAMPAIGN
JEREMY Corbyn was pictured joining a children’s football training session in Islington as one of his MPs said Labour missed an “open goal” to beat Theresa May and the Tories in the General Election.
The Labour leader, who has insisted the Conservatives lost the election despite being the largest party, was photographed by Times columnist Giles Coren at the football practice in sunny north London as the Prime Minister grappled with the fallout of losing her majority.
A source said Mr Corbyn has also been making a number of phone calls in what is a highly unpredictable and uncertain political climate, with Mrs May sacking two key aides and sending her Chief Whip Gavin Williamson to Belfast to open talks with the Democratic Unionist Party to reach a deal to prop up a Tory minority government.
But despite jubilation among Mr Corbyn’s supporters at bloodying Mrs May’s nose, Labour MP Chris Leslie said the party should not pretend it achieved a “famous victory”.
The former shadow chancellor labelled it an “okay result” after Mr Corbyn’s party secured a higherthan-expected 262 seats and significantly boosted its vote share.
He added Labour still lost the election, leaving his Nottingham East constituency with a Conservative government “they do not need” and the party with questions about how to convince voters it can move from “protesting about a government into being the government”.
WELSH Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has complained that his party’s General Election campaign in Wales was controlled from London.
The Tories had high hopes of winning seats from Labour, but in fact lost three: Cardiff North, Gower and Vale of Clwyd.
In an article for the Sunday Express, Mr Davies, pictured, points out that the Conservatives gained the highest share of the vote in Wales at a general election for more than 80 years – but claims Labour was able to do better because it was able to manage its own campaign.
He states: “Once the dust has settled, there will be time to conduct a thorough autopsy. But the truth is that we simply didn’t see it coming, and the end result has been desperately sad for the three fantastic MPs that we lost here in Wales. Disappointing, too, for the many excellent candidates we had across the country, and the activists who work tirelessly to keep the machine going.”
He says there were two stories in Wales from the Tory perspective: the bitter disappointment of losing seats to Labour – the other of a vote share in Wales that was higher than in any general election in Wales since the 1930s.
“On 34% of the vote we returned eight seats on Thursday, while in 2015 we returned with 11, despite receiving a share of only 29%,” he states.
“The difference in part was the fact that Welsh Labour were able to fight a local campaign; hiding Jeremy Corbyn from all of their literature during the early days of the campaign – and yet still able to benefit from a late surge in his popularity nationally. “Meanwhile, the left-wing vote in Wales coalesced around Labour, with the nationalists and Liberals haemorrhaging support in most seats. “Sadly, the decision to allow the UK messaging to marginalise our own, successful brand of Welsh Conservatism meant that we were not in a position to capitalise on those shifting sands in Welsh politics.” He compares the results in the general election to the Welsh Conservatives’ “record- breaking local government election result”, almost dou- bling their council representation, and putting the Tories in power in six Welsh local authorities all over Wales.
According to Mr Davies, this was “proof that locally driven campaigns work”.
He added: “We can look to Scotland for some of the answers. [Scottish Tory leader] Ruth Davidson was free to fight a local campaign and made huge strides with a clear and distinct offer. In Scotland, after all, there is a constitutional figurehead and a greater sense of autonomy from the central party.
“I have long believed that the Welsh Conservatives need to be more than just a corporate brand. We are proud unionists, but we cannot keep fighting General Elections without acknowledging the need for distinctive messaging.
“Health and education have been devolved to the Welsh Assembly for many years, and the decision to allow London messaging to take centre-