"No evidence of voter alienation"

Mandelson Defends Labour Policy on Choosing Candidates

Local resentment over the Labour leadership's decision to put Fulham-based barrister Andy Slaughter in as candidate for the by-election, ditching the General Election candidate, who had reduced the Tory majority quite significantly, has been blamed as a factor in the Conservative victory.

Labour's by-election panel drew up the shortlist of candidates, excluding the General Election candidate, from which the local party chose.

Pressed on BBC Radio to admit this was a factor in the defeat, Mr Mandelson insisted by-elections were "very exceptional, very pressurised events" which required "candidates of the highest quality and stamina."

"That is the basis on which by-election candidates have been selected in the past and that is the basis on which we will operate in future", he insisted.

Mr Mandelson was not on the by-election panel, and he had not learned who was selected as candidate "until well after the event."

Defeat "Won't Make a Jot of Difference"

He said he did not believe there was any evidence of voters being alienated in Uxbridge: "Quite the opposite, because our share of the vote from the General Election was maintained," he said.

He said people who were Conservatives but abstained, or voted for the Referendum Party at the General Election, had increased the Tory majority at the by-election.

"It was a Conservative-held seat. It always has been. It was held by the Conservatives even during the landslide victory of Labour at the General Election and unsurprisingly was held by the Conservatives at the by-election."

Labour still had a large majority and was governing well, and losing the Uxbridge by-election would "not make a jot of difference to us", he insisted.