“When I joined the party the aim was to obliterate the Tories and that’s kind of just happened.
“And so we take our obligation to try and ensure that Labour doesn’t get into office very seriously and Richard will be talking about that.
“But from a personal perspective, I’m going to be running in Wellingborough for the by-election.
“Everyone’s saying it’s a kind of litmus test for Reform UK and it’s, if you’d like, the perfect seat for Reform UK because 62 percent voted Brexit, 37 percent were Remain roughly.
“Peter Bone had a 32,000 majority, the Labour vote was down to 13,000.
“Wellingborough is like a microcosm of the national problems that we all face, a middle-aged population, working to middle class, not much vibrant industry, mostly government employment.
“All the kinds of things that have gone wrong with the country are prevalent in Wellingborough.”
Mr Bone has been talked about as a possible independent candidate, and there had also been speculation that he had been asked to stand for Reform UK.
Labour has chosen charity worker Gen Kitchen as its candidate, while the Liberal Democrats picked care home worker Ana Savage Gunn, a former Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Northamptonshire, and the Green Party has opted for insurance underwriter and parish councillor Will Morris.
