‘History shows that all Labour victories are hard earned’: campaign chief’s iron formula

From his London HQ, Pat McFadden talks about his party's nothing-left-to-chance preparations, Nigel Farage showing his true colours, and fending off Tory nonsense'

A testament to the kind of campaign being run by Labour is that an apparently straightforward answer from its election chief the other day caused an outbreak of incredulity from colleagues.

How are you?" a BBC Today programme presenter had asked Pat McFadden at the start of a big interview. I'm great, I'm great!" he replied. As concerned text messages pinged into his phone, he wryly admitted this uncharacteristic display of ebullience had been an appalling lapse".