Lonely task: there have not been many Labour canvassers out and about in Croydon for this year’s London elections – and they admit that they still have 90,000 leaflets to deliver
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE has obtained internal Labour correspondence that suggests some pre-election panic for the party
With the London elections just days away, Labour has sent begging letters to members appealling for tens of thousands of pounds in last-minute cash donations, while in Croydon, the party has been left with thousands of leaflets on its hands, undelivered because a lack of activists and volunteers.
“I’m really worried,” Labour’s candidate for London Mayor has written in one internal email.
Sadiq Khan, the party’s candidate for London Mayor who is seeking an historic third term at City Hall, has consistently been polling dozens of percentage points ahead of his bat-shit crazy Tory rival, Harrow hairdresser Susan Hall.
But despite Labour’s handsome leads in national and London polling, there have been signs of pre-election jitters ahead of the Thursday May 2 polling day.
Party insiders suggest there’s real fear of a repeat of the “Uxbridge Flop”, where public antipathy stirred up over ULEZ expansion and a perceived “war on motorists” was allowed to torpedo a Labour parliamentary by-election candidate standing in what was Boris Johnson’s old seat.
Khan’s campaign has not been helped by his own absences from election hustings events and his somewhat distant and aloof attitude when he has bothered to turn up for debates with his election rivals, who include the increasingly impressive Zoe Garbett, for the Greens, and LibDem Rob Blackie.
Narrowing lead: the latest polling figures, from the end of last week. Khan is still 13% ahead
The latest polling shows Khan’s lead halved, down to (a still decisive) 13%, from the 24% advantage he had held earlier in the campaign.
But this could be whittled away further still, with adverse headlines in the Evening Boris, such as today’s on knife crime.
Other factors, such as voter apathy and ignorance that there’s London elections happening at all, combined with Tory gerrymandering efforts over the electoral system being used and voter ID requirements, are all expected to favour the Conservatives rather than Khan’s campaign.
What is becoming increasingly evident in Croydon, however, is the lack of numbers in their canvassing teams, especially last weekend, the crucial final push before election day.
There has been a marked contrast between the clutch of just a handful of stalwarts – many of them councillors or wannabe candidates – turning out as part of the political leafleting cult, compared to the crowds of eager activists who trod the streets of Croydon for the 2017 and even 2019 General Elections.
That there has been a significant drop-off in Labour volunteers locally was admitted when Croydon Labour MP Sarah Jones sent out an email “Call to arms – mass leaflet delivery” in the middle of last week.
Writing that “we need to do all we can” to help get Khan and other Labour candidates elected on Thursday, Jones revealed, “In my constituency office at the moment, I have 90,000 leaflets that are yet to be delivered. I need your help to get those leaflets out to homes across the constituency.”
Front page blues: coverage of Khan has become notably less favourable in the past couple of weeks
But judging from the self-congratulatory gurning canvassing selfies shared on social media over the weekend, MP Jones’s “call to arms” didn’t seem to have quite the take-up she might have hoped for.
Group shots show mainly councillors, with few Croydon grassroots members bothering to help out. Jones’s constituency office on Blackhorse Lane was said to be chaotic at the weekend, with boxes of leaflets strewn all around the place.
“There are particular problems for Labour in Croydon,” one loyal member told Inside Croydon, asking to remain anonymous for fear of recriminations from officials at London Labour.
“There’s been relentless purges of long-standing party members for several years. Many who might have joined in 2015 to 2017 have drifted away, disillusioned with what has become of the party under Starmer.
“And then there is the ‘Croydon thing’: people know that it was a Labour council that bankrupted the borough, yet the party has done nothing about those responsible.
“So when you get to a situation like we have had recently, with the attempt to fix the Croydon East parliamentary selection, members are either not bothering to get involved, they’ve lost belief in the party and what it stands for, or they have cut up their membership cards and quit altogether.”
The best they can manage?: MP Sarah Jones (pink coat, centre) in a campaign photo from the weekend. Despite her desperate ‘call to arms’, few activists have turned out
The source mentioned four recent candidate selections: Croydon East parliamentary selection, which is still subject to a fraud investigation by the Metropolitan police, one for the London Assembly candidate, and for council by-election candidates for Woodside ward and for Park Hill and Whitgift. “Four selections, and not once have London Labour officials released any voting results. So nothing dodgy about that whatsoever.
“In two cases – the council by-election candidates – we had people imposed on us without any say.
“What’s the point of delivering leaflets for candidates you have not been allowed to pick?”
The source told Inside Croydon that several former Labour Party activists, including some former senior figures and even one former Labour councillor, have instead been out actively campaigning on behalf of the Green Party in the past week, and their candidates Garbett and Peter Underwood.
London Labour has become increasingly concerned by this trend, including disingenuous – and downright dishonest – appeals from the party for LibDems and Greens to “lend us your vote” to keep Hall from becoming Mayor.
But an email from London Labour last week strongly suggests that the disillusionment with the party may not be restricted to Croydon, and with just a week to polling day, that the campaign has run out of funds.
From a Sadiq Khan email address, the appeal says, “This isn’t a normal campaign email. Only a select group are receiving this…
“… You’re one of the incredibly generous donors who’ve funded our campaign.
Lacking support: Jess Hammersley-Rich (foreground), Labour’s Woodside by-election candidate, out leafleting. All five with her are Labour councillors
“Thank you for giving so generously. You’re the reason we could be in touching distance of an historic third win in a row.
“But I have to be completely honest, I’m really worried. Our lead has dropped by 11%. If we don’t do something now, they’ll pull ahead.
“Last time, the Tories massively outperformed their polling and came so close – just a few per cent behind us.
“So we can’t leave any stone unturned in these last few days.
“Our team has a plan to get us over the line in the last eight days but we’re still £34,300 short of paying for it.
“We’ve been blown over by your generosity so far. But please, if you can dig deep again, I can’t explain how much I’d appreciate it.”
The email signed off with thanks from “Sadiq”.
Another, well-placed Labour source said, “Labour members, traditionally, have not been the wealthiest of people. They’ve been working class and union members. Yet the party keeps going back to them for more money, time and again.
“If this email is as desperate as they have made it sound, then Labour really do have problems in London.”
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Read more: Council’s official guide on voting in May 2’s London elections
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
I can’t say I’m surprised about the lack of enthusiasm in Croydon, given their disastrous record in office and the contempt with which they seem to treat ordinary members
Just saying – leaflets are yesterday’s thing. Today everyone uses social media – I’m told this is the favourite communication method of IC’s hip, millennial readers