Labour - The Summer that Changed Everything

Can you guys be really kind for once and let me get into the meeting?

2016, and the Labour Party is in chaos.

Jeremy Corbyn is not resigning.

Civil war has broken out between the new mass membership who joined up to

support the veteran left-winger...

-CHANTING:

-Jez we can!

..and the party's MPs who want him gone.

He has now lost the confidence of the vast majority of his colleagues

and I think that makes his position untenable.

I think it'll be really important that the entire Labour Party unite

against Jeremy so we can once again become a credible opposition and the

party of government.

At Westminster, the Tories can't believe their luck.

Did she actually know...?

It's time to put the opposition out of their misery with an electoral wipe-out.

I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, where we agreed that

the Government should call a General Election.

Morning, a bit about me for your commute?

I want to know what it's like to be a politician when your party is

facing an election it can only lose.

Have you written to me since I've been the MP?

No, cos I think you're all rubbish.

So I'm going to spend the next few months with a handful of Labour's MPs...

It has been unbelievably challenging and frustrating, because I don't

believe you can be a leader if no-one's following you.

..as they go through the most extraordinary period in the party's recent history.

Oh, my God!

Oh, that's unbelievable!

CHEERING

Corbyn, Corbyn!

Thank you, Islington! Thank you very much.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You probably don't want that on at all, do you?

I haven't managed to have my caffeine hit this morning,

so can we just stop off at Tesco's on the way?

I need the kick-start.

After approaching MPs from across the party,

Stephen Kinnock was one of the few who agreed to let me follow them.

We're going to a place called the Upper Avon Valley.

The main population centres there are coalfield villages, so

villages that were effectively created around the coalmines

and those coalmines no longer exist.

Stephen, the MP for Aberavon, is part of a political dynasty.

I was born in Tredegar and then we moved to London,

but came back to Wales a lot because Dad was an MP, of course.

I've always felt that I would come back, you know.

We're up at the miners' hall, are we?

So, this is the sort of generic leaflet that we're handing out.

So, yeah, you're looking very strong and stable there, Stephen!

THEY LAUGH

That's absolutely fine with me, if that's the message that it's sending.

Neil Kinnock, Stephen's dad, was one of the most important

modernisers in the party's recent history.

# We'll keep the red flag flying here... #

In the early '80s, Labour was in the wilderness.

Neil won the leadership and went to war with the hard left who had taken

control of the party.

I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises.

You start with far-fetched resolutions,

and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council,

a Labour council hiring taxis to scuttle around a city handing out

redundancy notices to its own workers.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It was his repositioning of Labour which paved the way for Tony Blair to

make New Labour a highly electable mainstream political force.

So, you'll be voting on the 8th?

You'll be voting Labour?

Oh, yeah, well.

Well, we've got lots of unfinished business with the Tories,

so I'm hoping to finish it.

Too right, mate.

All right, thanks a lot, I'll just pop you some propaganda through.

-That's lovely!

-All right, thanks a lot.

I've always had the politics bug.

I've always wanted to do what I'm doing now,

but also, yeah, it is also to do with, you know,

my family and there is that element of...

..wanting to make them proud.

Stephen seems to be continuing his dad's fight

and the impending election defeat should at least kill off Corbyn.

It looks at the moment like the 8th June

is not going to be a good night for us.

If a party fails after seven years in opposition to make good forward

progress at an election,

then the leader has to take responsibility for that.

And, you know, on 9th June, Jeremy's going to have to take a long look in the mirror and decide.

And, you know, it is... It will be a tough personal choice for him, I'm sure.

You know, that's something which only Jeremy can do

-and only Jeremy should consider and reflect on.

-Right.

Some Labour MPs actually see this election campaign as a chance to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn.

Just a general thought on Labour's performance so far?

Labour MPs will talk about voting for their local MPs. They will,

wherever possible, not talk about Jeremy Corbyn.

How do you feel about your job prospects when the Conservatives are 21 points ahead of you?

We're not in a strong position in the polls.

We've got seven weeks of a General Election campaign, so there is a big challenge ahead of us.

It looks like the Conservative Party is heading for a decisive victory in

next month's General Election.

Losing the election will mean losing MPs.

Do you want a rosette or a sticker?

Morning, a bit about me for your commute?

Top of the Tory hitlist, with a majority of just 400, is Ruth Cadbury.

Something to read for your commute?

She's just electoral cannon fodder.

Something to read on your way in?

Read that on your way to school. Do you want a few to take to school?

Here, take a load to school, go on.

Hi, I'm Ruth Cadbury.

Hi. Still got a few days if you need a postal vote.

Her only hope of survival is to chase every single voter.

Hi, would you like my contact details so I can be the MP again?

Who is?

Am I rubbish?

Which e-mail, what's your name?

I'll check. What's your name and your address?

I wasn't MP then.

Have you written to me since I've been the MP?

OK.

In case you change your mind, here's my e-mail address.

OK, I look forward to hearing from you.

These are people who have called the constituency office over the weekend, are they?

-Yes, they call on Sunday.

-And then Ruth does call them back?

We do, yes. We're collecting calls from anybody who's got a doubt

or anything like that.

-Let's get that kettle on.

-She'll be calling a lot of people.

It's very important in this campaign that we connect directly with people.

So, have you decided how you're going to be voting?

No.

OK, if you do think of anything in particular that you need to ask me

that might help you make up your mind, let me know.

OK. Cheers, Paul.

OK, bye.

It's a hard slog, isn't it, getting those votes?

Well, in a really marginal seat like this,

it's that one-to-one conversation might make the difference.

-Oh, hello, you're Brian?

-Yes.

Ruth Cadbury, standing to be Labour's MP again and I just wondered if you know who

you'll be voting for in the election?

Well, I'm afraid I shan't be voting for you, because of your leader.

-OK.

-I couldn't possibly support a man like that.

-OK.

-Really nice to meet you, sir, cheers.

Just wondered if you've had any thoughts about which way you're

going to be voting on 8th June?

Oh, OK.

With Corbyn at the top of voters' concerns,

Ruth has a unique message.

"Vote for me and I promise to get rid of him."

I've got more chance of influencing what does happen in terms of the

leadership by being an MP than by not being an MP,

even. You know, as and when there is a challenge.

OK, all right, cheers. OK, bye-bye.

He has always been a Labour voter and I think he feels let down -

that's putting it mildly - at the mess the party's in at the moment.

-CHANTING:

-Tory scum! Tory scum!

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

Three weeks since Theresa May called the election,

and the parties are launching their manifestos.

APPLAUSE

Thank you very much.

Today, as we face this critical election for our country,

I launch my manifesto for Britain's future.

Jeremy Corbyn goes to Bradford University to unveil his.

Here, among this audience, there is little sign of the negativity

towards the Labour leader I've been hearing on the doorsteps

and in the media.

This is a manifesto for all generations.

We are providing hope and genuine opportunity for everybody.

Labour will scrap tuition fees, lifting the debt...

Leading the Jeremy tribute today is Sarah Champion,

the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

Please say thank you to your next Prime Minister.

-RADIO:

-Tony is in Woodford. Tony, good morning...

-OK.

-As a Shadow Cabinet minister,

Sarah is frequently asked to go on the media

to offer strong support for Corbyn.

OK, so who is standing on our behalf?

-Who's doing it?

-The Labour press office are trying to persuade her to

sing his praises at the leaders' TV debate.

OK. I...

My diary is on my phone so I need to hang up from you,

have a look and I will get back to you because I know that tomorrow is

a busy constituency day because I had to bump everything from today

into tomorrow as well, and I'm not sure what I've got and how much

wiggle room I've got.

All right, thank you very much. That's what you say to everyone!

SHE LAUGHS

It was, "Oh, Sarah,

"you're so wonderful and you're top of the list and we wanted to come to

"you first." And it's like, "Yeah, right!"

You've gone through 15 people and you've give them all the same spiel.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I would respond better to them saying, "Sarah,

"we're desperate and you're close, can you do it, please?"

Somehow, Sarah has managed to stay above the Westminster warfare

between the parliamentary party and the leadership

but she hasn't escaped unscathed.

There are times when it has been unbelievably

challenging and frustrating

because I don't believe you can be a leader if no-one's following you.

Jeremy is a very good man but I wished at many moments

that he made more of an effort to reach out to

the PLP and...

For me, it's about getting the change and you can't get the change

unless your team's onside.

Suddenly, it's the blue team who seem to be in trouble.

The Prime Minister has made a staggering U-turn on social care

and has compounded the embarrassment

by pretending she's done no such thing.

One Tory candidate told Newsnight that this looked like "a plate of sick".

Within days of the Tory manifesto launch,

Theresa May's very controlled campaign is going a bit wrong.

Secretary of State, can we just ask you very quickly about the U-turn on

social care? When did Theresa May change her mind?

Are you embarrassed by this U-turn, Prime Minister?

Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed.

Right, I'm going, James. See you later.

This is all the ward that I grew up in and where I joined

the Labour Party, so we used to campaign down these roads.

This used to be full of Labour posters in my day, this road.

Look, there's hardly any.

Lucy Powell was one of Corbyn's shadow ministers but resigned

last year as part of an attempt to force him out.

-Your name and title please, Lucy.

-Yes, Lucy Powell,

the Labour MP for Manchester Central.

No longer in the Shadow Cabinet!

I'll try not to smile, sorry.

Absolutely. First question, really, is why did you resign?

Well, it was an incredibly difficult decision for me.

But I felt that I had no alternative but to resign.

Jeremy has lost the support of the Shadow Cabinet and the Parliamentary

Labour Party. I think his position is pretty untenable.

With the luxury of a safe seat,

Lucy is spending this campaign helping colleagues in

neighbouring constituencies.

We're going to Stalybridge and Hyde,

where Johnny Reynolds is the candidate there.

The size of the Ukip vote there is, I think, 7.5, something like that,

maybe nearly 8,000, and Ukip aren't standing a candidate, which we

probably should be worried

about, so we're here today to help Johnny.

Move over a bit more this way, folks.

-Come to the front, Eileen.

-Come on, Eileen!

Three, two, one!

I've spent some time with candidates in these former heartland seats and

they're struggling on the doorstep.

The Tory campaign might be disintegrating

but that doesn't seem to be changing things for Labour.

I voted Labour all my life. I'm not going to vote for them again.

-What's on your mind?

-Your leader. He's the worst in the world, he is.

What a tosser he is!

If you've got nobody better than him, you might as well pack it in.

Well, I didn't vote for him myself but he did get elected twice.

Being in a political party sometimes doesn't go in terms of leaders

your way. Ukip aren't standing here so the Tories think

they're going to get that Ukip vote,

-so they're...

-No, you're safe, dead safe.

I'm honestly not safe.

Have a look at the bookies' odds, that's all I ask.

If you think I'm safe, you might win some money!

CHEERING

Labour seems to be running two different campaigns.

-CROWD:

-Corbyn, Corbyn!

Corbyn, Corbyn!

The leader's going from one mass rally to the next,

surrounded by genuine excitement.

He's putting himself in a kind of bubble of love.

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you for those on the roof over there,

thank you for those up the tree over there.

It's ours to win on June 8th. Is that OK?

CHEERING

The T-shirt, it's brilliant.

I love it.

So, it's fair to say you're in love with him?

Oh, yes. So is she.

I just want to hug him for ever.

-You want to hug him forever?

-His name is Jemery!

I catch up with the Corbyn love bubble as it floats into Watford.

Here, he's the party's biggest asset.

Everything he thinks,

I've thought for 65 years.

I was a non-voter and now I'm a £3-a-month paying member of the

Labour Party. Because he actually made sense.

Everything I was hearing from him

was what I want for my children.

A lot of the time you do hear on the doorstep that they would vote Labour

but they just can't because of Jeremy Corbyn.

-Because of the media.

-When you get bombarded with the press and

everyone else saying, he's awful, he's this, he's that, he's rubbish,

he's too left, he's a sandal-wearing-tree hugger,

after a little while, when people are bullying the public like that,

the public will suddenly think, "Hold on a minute,

"we're being told by the press what to think.

"Let's have a little listen to him." And then the tide will turn.

June 7th, they'll wake up and say, "Jeremy's the man."

-Who you waiting for, mate?

-Jeremy Corbyn.

-Oh, you're joking, Jeremy Corbyn?

I'll tell you what, you'd have to be desperate to get into the queue for that. Come on, let's get going.

-Absolutely desperate.

-Keep going that way, Ukip's down there, mate.

# ..inside us all

# I know that I can make it... #

This feels more like a congregation than a political audience.

It's a great pleasure of mine to introduce Jeremy,

the next Prime Minister.

-CROWD:

-Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!

Thank you, thank you so much, all of you, for being here today.

The Shadow Cabinet play the roles of loyal disciples.

Who's taking the picture?

Jeremy?

What's your name, darling?

-Give him a kiss!

-How do I spell that?

-C-Z-A-R-I-N-A.

Czarina. It's the Russian spelling, I believe, for Princess.

She is a little princess.

A lovely book for your future.

-OK?

-Their future depends on you winning, my friend.

Oh!

That has made my day. He's talked to her.

God knows what she was giving it in his ear.

Good luck to you for the future, that's what it says,

good luck to you in the future.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, ladies, bye.

It's the first time I've been properly inside the Corbyn bubble.

-OK.

-What is it like being in the middle of it?

It's the biggest ego ride imaginable.

We get some of the stardust that Jeremy has and Jeremy is a deity.

Those people there today have put all of their hope and trust in him

and to be in that environment, I mean, it's intoxicating.

And it's exciting and complete strangers wanting

to have a selfie with you

and it's like, whoa! So, yeah, you get really caught up in it.

You're just sort of lying back into it and being swept along with it.

Of course my ego is flattered.

-Yeah.

-But it's just a game, isn't it?

If I went to get my legs waxed where you get them,

do you reckon I could convince a few voters?

-Yeah.

-Head's already been done!

As the campaign's progressed,

the mood among all the teams has been lifting.

But the national outcome isn't in doubt.

Have you got an office sweepstake on the number of seats,

the Tory majority it will be?

-Um...

-I bet you have, haven't you?

-Everybody has.

-Yeah, we've chatted about it a few times.

The sweepstake, we all agreed we wouldn't really do the sweepstake

until the eve of the poll, which is tomorrow,

but everyone's got their views.

I think, looking like a Tory majority of between 30 and 50.

That's pretty much the consensus amongst the team, I think.

Well, amongst certain people in the team.

Others are a bit more optimistic.

Is that right?

Stephen's team has been boosted by new volunteers,

keen to spread the message.

17,000 steps we've done.

On Sunday.

-Not bad, is it?

-So, are you new to this?

Yes, I'm a new activist, yes, I am.

Yeah, all new.

-And so how are you finding it?

-I'm loving it.

-Really, really good.

-Right.

-Why?

-I just love it, knocking the doors,

talking to people about the Labour Party and about how Stephen is

brilliant. I've never done it before,

I didn't think I could do it but I've been trained well, haven't I?

Oh, you had some excellent training!

So you're a fan of Stephen's, then - is that what brought you to it?

Yes, it was, yeah.

And Jeremy Corbyn, as well.

-What?

-And Jeremy Corbyn.

OK, so there aren't many people who are a fan of Stephen and Jeremy?

-Yeah, I'm a fan of both.

-A fan of both?

-You're nearly there.

-That's right, yeah.

It's been a long slog.

We've had touching 3,000 conversations now,

just under 3,000 conversations,

so we think we've knocked about 10,000 doors.

Thank you very much.

The most important thing with any campaign is to get to the end of it

and feel you've done pretty much everything that you could.

Is there a risk that Labour lose the election but they don't lose badly

enough to unseat Corbyn?

This idea that it's somehow OK to only lose by 30 seats or 40 seats,

I simply don't understand.

That is the logic of a loser.

That is not the logic of a party

that believes that its rightful place is

in government, not in opposition.

We should be winning this election and anything less than a victory is

a failure.

Above all, I want to see tomorrow

the cynical way in which this election was called

turned on its head.

Turned on its head when we elect a Labour government

and we elect a Labour government tomorrow.

Thank you, Islington, thank you very much.

He wants Andrew Redmond at number 18.

Go on, Richard, take one for the team.

Whatever happens tonight,

Lucy Powell will hold her seat in Manchester,

so she's with her team in the nearby battleground of Bury South.

I'll just stick this in the door.

Can you remind her to vote later?

It's election day today. Do you know what that means?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, so it's either Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn.

Do you? Really?

Your mum and dad want Theresa May?

Well, I want the other one, I want Jeremy Corbyn.

Oh, I see, right, OK.

OK. Well, you let them know that I was in the area anyway.

All right? Nice to meet you.

For polling day, Stephen Kinnock is unveiling his secret weapon.

Fantastic.

-This is going straight to Number Ten.

-Straight to Number Ten!

Have a smile. Ding ding!

All aboard for a Labour victory!

That would not be a good look, would it?

MUSIC PLAYS: Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Fleetwood Mac

Hello, have you voted?

-Already done it, mate.

-Good stuff.

-For you!

-All aboard for a Labour victory.

He just wants a couple of leaflets.

Ruth Cadbury is using more conventional ammunition.

So that's my general leaflet and that's a little bit about

-the school cuts in Hounslow.

-Sorry, left before the bridge?

No, right. Right, up there, yeah.

Like many candidates around the country,

Ruth is finding a sudden surge in the number of volunteers who have

turned out to campaign for her.

Hiya, you all right? How's it going?

-Yeah, we've met before, haven't we?

-No, we haven't.

-Have we not?

OK, well, thanks for coming.

Hiya, hello, I'm Ruth.

Where have you come from?

Fantastic. Where are you from?

Oh, brilliant. Where have you come from?

Fantastic.

Oh, brilliant. Wow, you've come all the way over here?

Fantastic, thank you.

I'm just amazed, touched,

overwhelmed with how many people we've got coming over to help us

from all over.

There's a Tory, a sad Tory on his own.

Stephen is getting a visit from some political royalty.

This is Camilla.

That's Steph, his wife.

His daughter and wife, Heller,

who just happens to be a former Prime Minister of Denmark...

Good to see you.

Hold very tight, please!

..as well as his parents, Neil and Glenys.

-What do you reckon?

-It's fantastic.

-Terrific!

-Let's have a photo, then.

This is the red bus that doesn't tell lies.

This is the bus of truth.

It's an RMT one, as well!

I'm loving the pose, look at that!

At local party HQ,

the tensions hidden in Labour's campaign are being revealed.

He's made, I think, fundamental errors.

We all wish that he was more popular as a leader.

If you give him a chance, he will.

I have voted for Jeremy Corbyn twice in the membership election.

I paid 25 quid to vote for him.

And effectively I voted for him again today.

What I do think is him as leader has masked some of the other problems -

divided parties don't win elections.

-True.

-Jeremy Corbyn and his team are doing a damn sight better than

Ed Miliband did in 2015.

And if 172 MPs could have swallowed their pride six months ago

and got behind that man, it would be a different bloody story today.

We would have walked it today, otherwise.

With minutes to go until the close of polls,

Ruth is in a kind of manic campaign overdrive.

Most normal people don't expect people on their doorstep at 9.40pm.

Hello. Dolores? Ruth Cadbury. Calling about the voting.

Hi, sorry to call so late.

You did. Two votes for Labour?

Two votes for Corbyn. OK.

Hiya.

First indications of whether she's got what she wanted

or whether Jeremy Corbyn has dashed her hopes will come

with the exit poll at ten.

Who gets to Number Ten...

In a few minutes, the exit poll will reveal how the nation has voted.

At the last election, Lucy Powell

was part of Ed Miliband's inner circle.

I mean, I'm particularly bruised from 2015.

You know, the polls were very close,

we looked like we were sort of having a little edge at the end.

And, you know, it felt good on the day, it felt good a few days before.

And then when that ten o'clock moment comes in and it says,

Tory majority, which no-one was really predicting,

that was so crushing.

You know, you didn't want to believe it but then, obviously,

as the results started coming through, it was really clear and...

And it is absolutely devastating.

I was pessimistic today.

Polling day, you're only supposed to be speaking to people you think are

voting Labour. And we weren't.

We were speaking to people who were telling us they had voted

Conservative and not voted Labour.

So, you know, it's hard not to sort of feel a bit affected by that.

Hello. Hello. How are you? All right?

Hello, are you well?

-Yeah.

-Fingers crossed.

Here on BBC One Wales, it's Election 2017 Wales...

All this stuff is out of our hands.

Right. OK.

This is it, guys. This is it.

-This is it.

-How are we feeling?

There are just over 20 seconds to go until Big Ben strikes ten.

Can we have a bit of volume on it or not? No?

-It's all right.

-I feel really nervous.

I know. I feel really nervous now. Oh, God!

I just hate this. I just hate this bit.

I just hate it.

Oh, God! Listen, listen.

What's he saying?

-All right, sweetheart.

-Oh, God. What's he saying?

Largest party.

Oh, not landslide.

Not big majority. Largest party.

Oh, Labour gains...

Ooh!

Largest party.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

That's unbelievable!

30-seat gain.

Amazing! Oh, my God!

And what we are saying is the Conservatives are the largest party.

Note, they don't have an overall majority at this stage.

314 for the Conservatives.

-Oh, my God!

-That's down 17.

Labour on 266.

The SNP on 34.

-Wow!

-The Lib Dems on 14.

We are predicting therefore that the Conservatives will be the largest

party but, astonishingly, short of an overall majority.

Let's just run through those numbers once more.

-Wow! Incredible!

-Another election in six months' time.

Yeah, we're going to get a hung parliament, then.

-That's a hung parliament.

-Yeah.

-A hung parliament.

I think she will get it.

She needs 11 more.

I'm not sure what Stephen's face is revealing here,

but perhaps he's realising the Corbyn-free tomorrow he's been

thinking about might never actually come.

The Prime Minister called this election because she wanted,

as she put it, certainty and stability.

And this doesn't seem at this stage to look like certainty and

-stability...

-If this is right,

that is phenomenal.

Ten...DUP and three Sinn Fein who don't turn up.

So that goes there...

The only way she can rule

on those figures is with the Ulster Unionists and the DUP.

May has gone, Steve, with this...

Or anything like it, May has gone.

With anything like this, May has gone.

She's got to go.

She'll be gone in the morning. She'll have to go in the morning.

She will. She's lost seats!

Has she lost seats?

Has she lost seats?

Has she lost seats?

-Yes.

-What was she on before?

She was on 331.

Right. So they've lost 15.

They've lost 15.

Oh, my God!

Yep.

Well, it's reasonable...

A lot of common-sense mainstream Labour policies in the manifesto.

Yeah.

Hi, guys.

All right? All right?

Cheers. OK.

As one of Corbyn's arch critics,

the assembled media at the count are keen for his response to

-the exit poll.

-Where shall we go, then?

Through here?

Just do a quick one with BBC Wales.

Sure.

OK.

Yeah.

Yeah, OK. All right.

No problem. Will do.

Yeah, OK. I might as well.

Yeah.

Stephen is typically keen to oblige.

But Denmark's ex-prime minister smells danger.

Yeah.

It won't be about this.

Oh. Right.

Yeah.

Hello, good evening. It's still early days,

but it looks like a very positive result for us.

We've managed to get young people to come out to vote for us.

The turnout here in Aberavon looks very good, as well.

So all of that is very positive.

But the story of tonight is that Theresa May has, with great hubris

and arrogance, called a general election and it's backfired on her

in a big way. Thanks very much.

Cheers, guys. Thanks a lot.

I think... I think I'm going to just take a break for a while, actually.

Yeah. I think we'll just hold back for a bit,

if that's all right with you guys.

We've got a declaration coming - sorry to interrupt -

from the Vale of Clwyd, and I'll come back.

I love Chris Ruane.

He doesn't look like he's won, though, does he?

You can never tell.

By the early hours, Labour are gaining seats

previously thought hopeless.

Have we gained it?

I love Chris.

-Lovely.

-Oh, my God!

Kinnock, Steven Nathan, Welsh Labour, Llafur Cymru,

22,662...

Steven's majority becomes the biggest in Wales.

Not bad, eh?

That's in your territory!

That was in your territory from the...

-Well done.

-Brilliant.

-Thanks for that.

Congratulations.

Theresa May's roll of the dice looks set to be one of the biggest

political mistakes that we have seen for quite some time.

A beaming Jeremy Corbyn arriving at his count in Islington.

Smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Labour have stormed the big towns and cities,

partly thanks to an increased turnout among young voters.

Once, twice,

and now he looks to have achieved

one of the biggest political upsets in many, many years.

It's been an incredible evening.

It was unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

And some of the individual results, and mine...

Yeah, what was your majority?

Like, 31,500 is my actual majority.

It's completely insane.

-10,000 more...

-I know, than I was last time.

Ruth Margaret Cadbury, Labour Party.

35,000...

CHEERING

Ruth has gone from a 400 majority to more than 12,000.

It's easy to forget that Labour have lost the election,

although this is a victory for Corbyn and a defeat for

his former critics like Fiona, Ruth's PR adviser.

I feel very conflicted.

I...

..don't personally see the appeal of Jeremy Corbyn.

What I am dreading is the triumphalism

because everything has been so divided and so nasty.

And my expectation is they are not going to be graceful winners.

I think it's going to be...

I don't think it's going to be pretty.

Suddenly, everything has changed.

Labour's Parliamentary party are gathering for a team photo.

It's easy to forget that just a few months ago,

172 of these MPs mounted a coup to depose their leader.

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn! #

One of the last MPs to return here

was the Shadow Cabinet Minister Sarah Champion.

I'd been to see her before she headed back.

I love campaigning.

But it completely takes over all of your life.

So it's sort of part of the process of getting back to being Sarah,

so then I can deal with the assault of going back down

to Parliament again.

I don't feel tough enough yet to go back.

I should be going back tomorrow.

It sounds pathetic.

I'm psychologically vulnerable.

I couldn't take the beating that I'll get

when I step over that threshold.

Literally. And I'd either...

I'd either cry or say something or do something stupid.

It's...

It's not a fun place to be.

Pretend you want to be here. Come on, nice and smiling...

That's better.

One more.

I don't know what job I'm going back to.

I could be going back to the backbenches.

I could be in a different role.

I don't know if the PLP are going to be onside or if they are going to be

actively campaigning to undermine us.

And it's... It's lonely there.

You know? You are fighting on every front.

It's not fun.

I don't know if they are now going to work as one fighting unit.

I literally don't know.

Their vilified leader has taken these MPs closer to power than they

could have imagined. But how did it happen?

All right, good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second session.

As you all very well know,

we are now in permanent general election campaign, right?

The Tories are in disarray.

We know that we are the government in waiting.

And we know that we need to be ready

whenever a general election is called.

In Manchester, activists from Momentum are meeting.

Set up to link the thousands of new Corbyn-supporting members,

I hadn't quite realised what they were up to during the election.

But they played a vital role.

So, does anybody want to start us off with their favourite moment of

the general election campaign?

-Yeah.

-Bev?

We started going into marginals and helping

support marginals and on the last day,

we did this housing estate that hasn't been done for years.

And we had one hour

and in that time,

we persuaded eight people to go and vote.

In that just over one hour.

And the gorgeous thing was people were coming past us on the way out

of voting and going, "I've done it!

"We've done it!

"We've done it!" And people going past in cars.

"We've done it!" Eight people.

We got eight votes in an hour.

Momentum has developed My Nearest Marginal,

an amazing tool for canvassing.

Momentum created an app to turn the new members

into doorstep campaigners.

All you have to do is type in your postcode.

It will come up with a list of all your closest

marginal constituencies.

This election is going to be won on the doorstep.

If we can work together and pool our resources,

we can get more activists out than ever before.

Momentum's powerful online presence also allowed it to run a massive

parallel campaign.

Dad, do you hate me?

Obviously!

This one was one of the most popular.

7.9 million views.

-Wow!

-Which is a lot.

OK. So that's like much more than you'd get in

-a party political broadcast.

-Yeah.

We filmed that in, like, an afternoon. A couple of hours.

So we know people who've got their own equipment and willing to donate

-their time.

-OK.

-All right.

-So you can do it very cheaply.

-You can do it very cheaply.

-OK, so that goes out on Facebook.

On Momentum's Facebook, yeah.

OK. And during the election,

how many people were looking at your Facebook page?

-Do you know?

-You can't get the figure for the whole election

period, but in the last 28 days, it was maybe...

..16 million people.

Wow! OK. So your Facebook page has become

just like an incredibly powerful broadcaster, essentially.

-Yeah, yeah.

-That you are in complete control of.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Right.

Since the election, with more members than ever,

Momentum now have a plan to win more converts.

So, can we have our canvassing virgins...?

LAUGHTER

Can we have them in this part of the room?

And then everybody that's experienced,

can we have you on that side of the room?

They are holding mass canvassing sessions in newly marginal seats

like Putney, to prepare the ground for the next election.

You can persuade somebody who is a Tory voter...

You can persuade them just by literally listening to

their concerns and being that person that turns it around

so that you become their friend.

So, really don't be shy.

People out on the door, being persuasive,

actually does work.

Hi, hello.

Good afternoon. I'm from the Labour Party.

So we are literally just out canvassing at the moment,

trying to convert a few people.

Who do you currently vote for?

Sarah Champion has found out the hard way

that the rules in Corbyn's new Labour Party are changing.

Following the conviction of a grooming gang,

she had been keen to get on the media to make a point.

Now another city has been added to that...

So this was the first interview you did on the day.

Yeah, they called me up the night before,

asking me if I would do it.

I said I would only go on if I actually say that the majority of

perpetrators in this type of crime are of Pakistani descent.

..with Sarah Champion, who is Labour MP for Rotherham...

This is a specific group of men that are doing this crime.

For example, on the news last night,

there was a picture of 18 of the people that were convicted.

There was no comment that 17 of those were clearly Asian men.

This isn't racist, this is child protection.

And we need to be grown-up about this and deal with it.

-So, you are happy with that?

-Happy with that.

-Stand by that.

-Yes.

-Would say it again and again and again

until people listen to me.

It was when the Shadow Equalities Minister wrote an article for

the Sun that she found herself in real trouble.

Yes, I know that the Sun uses nasty racist language

and I knew that being in that paper, it was going to...

It wasn't going to be put in the nuanced way

that I hoped it would.

But I needed to reach a Sun audience.

Because a Sun audience used to be a Labour audience.

The outrage from Labour supporters was almost immediate.

People were saying I was racist

and really pissed off that I had written it in The Sun,

which was seen to be incredibly disloyal to the Labour Party.

I was... You know, naive,

maybe stupid, to not think that writing in The Sun would have such

a strong impact on people.

At three o'clock on the Wednesday,

I got a phone call from the leader's office

saying that they had spoken to Jeremy and he now thought it was

time to accept my resignation.

Which I went, "OK.

"Please may I write my resignation letter, then?"

And they are like, "Yeah, we've got to get it out right now."

Mr Corbyn...

-Mr Corbyn.

-Thank you so much.

-Mr Corbyn.

-Hi, how are you doing?

Very well, thanks. Sarah Champion.

You backed her on Friday. You effectively sacked her yesterday.

-What changed?

-She's resigned because she doesn't...

-You would have sacked her, though, wouldn't you?

-Michael,

can we go to the old-fashioned way of you asking the question and I give you the answer?

I was trying to have a grown-up discussion about something

and all the discussion had turned to, "Was Sarah right to write in The Sun?"

And I find it quite unpalatable that if you are a politician of one

party or another, then there are papers that you can or can't write

in, drawn up on political lines.

I find that quite a chilling concept.

It's late September, and the Labour family is coming together for its

annual conference.

Could you be friends with a Tory?

Could I be friends with a Tory?

Yeah. I reckon. I've never kissed one, though.

Three, two, one. Yeah, lovely.

This party is beginning to feel quite different.

Across the road at Momentum's fringe festival

is where the real action is.

Brothers and sisters, comrades and friends,

welcome to the world transformed!

This session is called winning power.

And you know how we're going win power.

Partly with the next Prime Minister of this country,

Jeremy Corbyn!

CHEERING

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn... #

Through the fog and through the smoke, we can purely see the future.

Over in the main conference,

Momentum are also setting the agenda.

Of the 1,100 delegates, more than 800 are members or supporters.

MPs like Lucy Powell are being marginalised

and are having to jostle for a seat in the hall.

It seems Corbyn's former opponents aren't really wanted here.

Momentum are asserting their influence

at every level of the party.

We've just had a series of AGMs in my constituency, at ward level.

And in some wards, we've had groups of people turning up

who've never been to a single meeting before, and have come along

with a sort of training manual from Momentum about how to oust local

committed community activists.

And I just find that...

..you know, weird and horrifying, actually.

I think they are being mobilised by saying, well, all the establishment,

all the existing people in the Labour Party, are against Jeremy

and we need to sort of cleanse it and take it over.

To sort of create this more pure

movement, and that's not going to be a good thing for us

by any measure. Certainly not electorally.

When I started filming with Stephen,

I'm pretty sure he saw himself as a future leader.

-David, how are you?

-Good.

Are you well? Yeah, yeah, enjoying it. See you soon.

Politics, though, can be brutal.

In 1983,

this was the scene of a piece of theatre that forever undermined his

dad's attempt to be taken seriously as a future Prime Minister.

-ARCHIVE:

-Now, that sort of thing is just not supposed to happen.

And even as Mr Kinnock put the best face on things,

he was wondering whether, wet feet and all,

the cameraman might choose to

use those shots that were a little more dignified.

I'll try not to fall over.

Yeah, I was going to say, you know what I want to say...

I know, I know. But the thing is,

I'm not walking with my mother and it was actually her fault

that the fall happened because she was wearing

a new pair of suede boots.

-Really?

-Yeah. And the sea started coming in...

Hi, how are you? All right?

Good to see you.

Obviously, she had to choose between saving her suede boots

or pushing Dad in the sea.

So it was a no-brainer, really.

Having grown up

and your entire sort of political philosophy being formed around

a particular view of the party,

and suddenly everything has been turned on its head, I wonder whether

actually you must feel very disorientated by what's going on.

It definite... I mean, on election night...

You were shocked and disorientated on election night.

Yeah. No, that was...

That was one of the most sort of topsy-turvy things

that I've experienced.

My wife Helen's favourite phrase in the world is "what doesn't kill you

"makes you stronger"

And I absolutely sign up to that one.

And that's what life is about.

You get knocked back,

you dust yourself off and you pick yourself up and you keep going.

Labour is ready...

Ready to rebuild our National Health Service.

I'm, like, so much older than these young people coming into Momentum.

Those young guys, they need me

and I need them. And if we can make that work, then

that's a fantastic opportunity for the party.

That's the magic of a political movement.

If you can bring those two things together.

But if those two things diverge, we are lost.

So you can sit here and say, we need them, they need me.

Would they say that they need you?

I hope so. I really hope so.

I feel a real need to be bridging that kind of gap between the younger

generation and the older generation in our party.

And that's something that I'm working on and trying to understand

and be better at every day.

Let everyone understand this.

We've come this journey, not to let you down, because we listen to you,

because we believe in you.

Labour can and Labour will deliver a Britain for the many,

not the few!

None of the MPs I've been filming with were in the hall for

the leader's big speech.

# ..we'll keep the red flag flying here.. #

The centre of gravity in the party has shifted.

It's going through a generational change

and that's rarely a comfortable process.

But renewal is essential to survival.

Labour's long-term future is less about the old man

who has just left the stage...

It's much more about the young people taking his place.

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

# Oh, Jeremy Corbyn... #