Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer posted leaflets through letterboxes in Bedfordshire as he eyed up his next electoral gain following the party’s by-election victory in Selby and Ainsty.
Sir Keir visited a resident’s house and undertook some light canvassing at an estate in Shefford, Bedfordshire on Saturday afternoon, after his speech at the National Policy Forum in Nottingham.
He was joined by deputy leader Angela Rayner, shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle and local candidate Alistair Strathern.
The market town falls within the constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, which has been held by Tory Nadine Dorries since 2005 and the Conservative Party generally since 1931.
Former culture secretary Ms Dorries announced in June that she would be standing down as an MP “with immediate effect”, but no by-election has yet been triggered.
Labour this week overturned a 20,137 Conservative majority to win the north Yorkshire seat of Selby and Ainsty, with 25-year-old Keir Mather becoming the youngest MP, although the party narrowly failed to take Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Sir Keir met local resident Ken Marks who said he was “disaffected” with the Tories and Ms Dorries was “supposed to have gone by now”, claiming her local office had been turned into a dance studio.
The pair discussed pensions, the NHS and the Covid pandemic before Mr Marks added: “You, in person, seem to be the right guy for the job. You’re not frightened to stand up and speak to these people.”
All four Labour politicians then joined local campaigners in posting party leaflets into houses in the estate.
At one home, Sir Keir was greeted by a barking dog as he popped through the information, leading him to say: “I think the dog’s had that one!”
The Labour leader also managed to spare some time to watch England in the Women’s World Cup between his engagements, as the Lionesses kicked off their tournament against Haiti.
Sir Keir said: “We’re not sitting back [after the by-elections], we’re not looking over our shoulder. We’re pressing forward.
“There should be an election, a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, and so I’m here talking to local residents, to people who are now fed up and want a by-election desperately and want to vote Labour.
“So yes, of course we reflect, but we’re moving forward here because the goal is to get to that general election.”
