Why Labour lost the red wall, Tony Blair's former aide explains

24 January 2020, 18:59 | Updated: 24 January 2020, 19:04

Former aide to Tony Blair, Ivor Caplin has given an idea as to why the Labour party lost their dominance in the North of England in the general election.

Caplin joined Andrew Pierce after Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour MP for Salford and Eccles, was given the endorsement of Unite the Union to become the next leader of Labour. Unite, one of the largest unions in the UK announced the decision Friday evening.

The conversation turned from Long-Bailey to Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader and the question was posed to Mr. Caplin that Labour's policies were right, "they just weren't trusted to deliver them."

"The electorate didn't like Jeremy Corbyn." Caplin puts bluntly.

Mr. Caplin harps back to the Novichok attack in Salisbury, where he believes the public distrust for the Labour party and their leader began. Corbyn was seen to be soft on Russia in the aftermath of the attacks "on our own soil".

Caplin points out that Northern England is a heartland of veterans and recruits into the army and after Corbyn's reaction to the attacks, he was seen as "someone they couldn't trust, with our security and with our country".