Labour tries to deal with dysfunctional campaign machine after Ukip leak

After spending all week stamping all over their own report about how to approach Ukip, Labour is now trying to work out what on earth led to the row. It’s not so much a leak inquiry as a cock-up inquiry, as the MPs who are supposed to be in charge of Ukip strategy in the party say they hadn’t seen the report at all – though those involved in writing it claim they did.

One HQ source tells me that Yvette Cooper signed off on the report, which was compiled by experts on polling and constituency data, including the man the party recently hired as the ‘Nate Silver of Bolton’, Ian Warren, other members of the field team and some MPs. But the official Ukip Strategy Group did not know about the contents of the report. A Labour source says;

‘Yvette and the Ukip Strategy Group were not aware this document was being drafted and did not see it before it was sent out.