Labour have won Corby from the Conservatives, and with a larger swing than most pundits were predicting. Its majority of more than 7,000 means that Labour now holds the seat with a larger majority than it did after the 2001 election.
The Tories are already pointing to several factors to explain the scale of their defeat. It’s mid-term and the fact that Louise Mensch had quit the seat having won it last time to move to New York definitely hurt them. But it is still a poor, if not spectacularly so, result for them. I suspect it will lead to increased jitters on the Tory benches as MPs work out what a 12.7 per cent swing would do to their majorities.
For Labour, it is an encouraging sign. In his acceptance speech, Andy Sawford, the victorious candidate, emphasised that this was a victory for ‘one-nation Labour’ and that ‘the road to Downing Street runs through Corby’.
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