Labour lost North Southwark and Bermondsey, once a safe seat, to the Lib Dems in 1983, following the deselection of Bob Mellish. Mellish had represented Labour from 1946 to 1983. In this election I took on the key task of returning the seat to the Labour family.
Unfortunately, I failed to regain the seat for Labour. The election resulted in a nine percent swing from Labour to the Lib Dems. The turnout was only 50 percent – one of the lowest in London – down ten percent from 1997.
Labour’s vote dropped from 16,000 in 1997 to 11,000. Significantly, we gained more support from black voters, but failed to attract enough white voters to get us pass the winning post.
Once again, the Lib Dems were successful in holding together their coalition of angry Labour voters, Tories voting tactically to keep Labour out and people disaffected by the local council and the closure of Guy’s accident and emergency unit.
In December 2000 I was selected to contest the seat for Labour. We had five months to remove the Lib Dems’ MP – a tall order but not impossible!
Before the start of the campaign we sought the support of the regional party office and got it. Tony Blair launched the national campaign in this constituency and we also had visits from Paul Boateng, John Edmonds and Jeremy Corbyn. A range of local trade unions also provided support.
In April the National Front held the first of three marches through the streets of Bermondsey. The local Labour Party took a very strong public stance calling for a ban on NF marches. The Lib Dem MP refused to do likewise. It also cost the taxpayers at least £1.5 million to police the three marches.
During the course of the campaign we combined the successes of the Labour government with key local concerns. We knew that our campaign was gaining ground on the Lib Dems when The Times came out with an editorial in support of their candidate.
So what key lessons did I learn? First, we cannot continue to ignore our core voters in the inner cities. Second, we ignore the opportunistic Lib Dems at our peril. Third, black and minority people are extremely loyal to Labour. This should be recognised in policy and representation decisions.
Fourth, the NF vote in North Southwark and Bermondsey was just over 600. North Southwark and Bermondsey Labour Party shows that if you challenge the views of the NF, you will gain support from local voters. Fifth, seats like North Southwark and Bermondsey need support in selecting their candidates well in advance of the next general election – five months was not enough time for a new candidate to remove the sitting MP. Sixth, too many people are staying away from the ballot box.