The Battle for Corby: The Inside Story of the 2012 Parliamentary By-Election

By Bretwalda Books

A gripping account of the Corby Parliamentary By-Election written by a Corby-based journalist and published just 7 days after Polling Day.
The sudden and unexpected resignation of high-profile Conservative Member of Parliament Louise Mensch threw the national spotlight on to the quiet Northamptonshire town of Corby and its nearby villages. This is a key swing seat that was held by the Conservatives throughout the Thatcher and Major years, but went Labour in the 1997 Blair Landslide. In 2010 the Conservatives won Corby back, helping to put David Cameron into Downing Street.
The 2012 By-election was quickly seen by political commentators as being a key test for Prime Minister David Cameron and his leadership of the Conservative Party. If he lost Corby and lost it badly he would be in trouble. Similarly if Labour did not win convincingly their leader Ed Miliband would face serious questions from his own Party.
But while the commentators sat in their armchairs, the candidates and party workers were slogging it out on the streets of Corby and nearby villages. Corby town is staunch Labour territory, the villages solidly Conservative. But this bi-partisan picture was quickly disrupted by a strong campaign launched by UKIP, with the LibDems catching up fast and the idosyncratic Mr Mozzarella providing light relief.
Very soon the Corby By-election developed into one of the closest, bitterest and least predictable by-elections of recent years.
The full story of the campaign is told here, for the first and only time.

About the Author
Janet Bew is a Corby-based journalist who writes for the Corby Telegraph and Northampton Telegraph local newspapers. She knows the Corby and East Northants constituency well and works closely with the leading political figures in all parties on the local council. Throughout the by-election campaign, Janet has been following the candidates as they pound the pavements, shake the hands and kiss the babies in their relentless search for votes. And she was there at the end when the votes are counted and the victor declared.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bretwalda Books
• Release date: Nov 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781909099319

Bretwalda Books

Bretwalda Books is a publisher based in England that concentrates on history, folklore, politics, paranormal and travel books. We were founded in 2010 and have an ever expanding list of books available in both print and as ebooks. Bretwalda Books can be contacted through our website.

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The Battle for Corby

The Inside Story of the 2012 Parliamentary By Election

by

Janet Bew

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Published by Bretwalda Books at Smashwords

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First Published 2012

Copyright © Janet Bew 2012

ISBN 978-1-909099-31-9

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - The Departure of Ms Mensch

Chapter 2 - Corby & East Northants

Chapter 3 - The Candidates are Chosen

Chapter 4 - The Campaign Begins

Chapter 5 - Things Hot Up

Chapter 6 - Countdown to Polling Day

Chapter 7 - The Final Week

Chapter 8 - Polling Day

Chapter 9 - The Result

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Chapter 1

The Departure of Ms Mensch

Described by one journalist as a Marmite politician, Louise Mensch was always a controversial choice of, and MP for, Corby. She announced her resignation as MP for Corby and East Northants on August 6, 2012, having won the seat for the Conservatives in the 2010 General Election. Her resignation was not a surprise as she had talked increasingly about the difficulties of combining motherhood with a political career – during an interview with the New Statesman in October 2011 she said she felt stretched multiple ways - but the timing was and forced a by election the coalition government would probably rather not have fought.

Louise Daphne Bagshawe, as she was in 2010, was a Conservative Party A-list candidate fast-tracked for a Parliamentary career. A highly successful chick lit author she was named the Conservative’s Parliamentary candidate for Corby and East Northants in 2006 and moved with her young family to live in the constituency in Oundle. Her victory over Labour’s Phil Hope in the 2010 General Election saw the start of her political career, one which many thought would lead to a ministerial role.

Born on June 28, 1971, Louise read Anglo-Saxon and Norse at Oxford University, before landing her first publishing contract on her 22nd birthday. She has since published 15 novels that have sold more than two million copies.

Before the 2010 General Election she was listed by Insight Public Affairs as a name to look out. Once elected Louise soon built a high profile for herself, appearing on programmes such as Question Time and Have I Got News For You?

Louise married her second husband Peter Mensch, the New York-based manager of bands such as Metallica, in 2011 and it appears this may have influenced her decision to resign. She was widely tipped for promotion in the September Cabinet reshuffle but decided to quit politics and move to New York. Talking to the Corby Telegraph about her decision she said she had wanted to wait until the next General Election but decided to make the move before her three children got too settled in the UK.

She made her maiden speech in the House on June 10, 2010, and in it she praised her predecessor Phil Hope saying: He was a passionate advocate of Corby...his obvious political ability was matched only by his kindliness and courtesy, which I know must have endeared him to many Members from all parts. In the four years that I was the Conservative candidate for Corby, Phil and I never exchanged a sharp word.

During her time in Parliament Louise was elected to serve on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and was praised by many observers for her questioning of James and Rupert Murdoch over the phone hacking scandal at The News of the World.

Louise Mensch, photographed in 2009, holds a copy of one of the massively successful books that she