Despite clear signs that the Tory campaign was not operating at full capacity there existed at CCHQ a blithe assumption that the result would go their way. A close ally of Nick Timothy said, ‘I had conversations with Nick and Fi, where they used phrases like, “We will win a load of seats we’ve never even won before.” Bishop Auckland was always mentioned, and Bolsover. People were getting excited about the prospect of unseating Dennis Skinner.’ At that point the Labour veteran had a majority of nearly 12,000. ‘Fundamentally, people assumed it was in the bag and all decisions stemmed from that,’
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