The inside story of how the Brexit vote was won

In the months before the referendum, the ‘Leave’ campaign’s press operation had been in control of the campaign. But in the last three weeks, the baton was passed over to the ground campaign to get us over the line.

Running a good ground campaign relies on three key phases. The first two of these – identification and motivation – are largely self-explanatory. Find target voters then work out how to enthuse them. The final stage is about getting out the vote – making sure people actually go to the polling station. This means ensuring your supporters vote in greater numbers than the other side (what’s known as ‘differential turnout’). The key to the whole process is identifying supporters – collecting what’s called Voting Intention data. This is gathered by local volunteers knocking on doors and asking. Without that data, you cannot run a campaign that targets your supporters.