The level of the swing in Crewe & Nantwich was much larger than expected. Why was it that the Conservative team got a bandwagon rolling in a way more usually associated with the Lib Dems?
What struck me was that this is the first time we have used really clear easy to read literature and put across a really simple message. It's worth looking at http://www.geocities.com/by_elections/ to get an idea of what we used to do and what we do now. After the mess in the Bromley by election, real improvements started to be made in Ealing - but it wasn't quite there as can be seen looking at all the literature. In Crewe everything was spot on and it was the perfect campaign. Eric Pickles and the whole Conservative team co-ordinating the by election campaign deserve the strongest congratulations for their brilliant achievement.
