JORDAN Newell has spent the past five years trying to persuade the Colchester electorate to vote Labour.

As leader of the Colchester Labour Party, he has walked miles, attended numerous debates and hosted political leaders.

Now, he is handing over the reins to give him more time, and energy, to focus on family and friends.

He speaks to ZOE FORSEY.

JORDAN Newell’s appointment as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the 2010 general election was a less than auspicious start.

He was one of three candidates put forward and was awarded the honour when the two others failed to turn up to a hustings event.

He was only 24 and jumped straight in to his first campaign, while still working full-time in London.

He said: “It was a little bit earlier in the cycle than I had anticipated.

I had worked for MPs and I had worked behind the scenes on campaigns.

“This was the first time I’d led it. I had to save all my annual leave for the campaign.”

It was never going to be easy.

Colchester was historically Conservative and larger-than-life MP Sir Bob Russell was leading the charge for the Lib Dems.

Jordan won 5,680, 12.3 per cent, of the votes, compared to the party’s 20.3 per cent in 2005.

He said: “It was a difficult election nationally. People were tired of a Labour government by that point.”

In 2012, he stood in the contest to be the Labour candidate for the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner, but lost out to Val Morris- Cook by 89 votes.

He faced criticism for standing as he, along with the majority of the Labour Party, had criticised the role.

He said: “When you have any election you need Labour people there to fight for it and for people who want to vote Labour to have the opportunity to do so.”

Jordan, who is 31, says the 2015 general election, which saw Tory Will Quince beat Sir Bob Russell, was a very different campaign.

Gazette:

        Jordan speaking at the Gazette's 2015 General Election hustings

He said: “We learned a lot over the five years. In 2015 it was so much different because of social media, which is a double-edged sword. It was great for us to get our message out there, but the amount of abuse and trolling were quite hard to put up with.

“They say politicians have a thick skin, but I don’t think that’s true. I certainly don’t have a thicker skin than the next person.

“When you’re fighting a seat where Labour is in third, it is almost as if the pressure is on to make sure we have a good showing.

I’m really proud of what we achieved – we bucked the national trend.”

Labour won 7,852 votes, 16.2 per cent of those cast.

It was during the early 2015 general election campaign he told the party he would be stepping down.

He said: “People wanted me to carry on, but we’ve got so much fresh blood and ideas, I want to give those people the chance to take things forward.

“You can’t run an organisation with the same leadership for more than five years. You need fresh ideas and more energy.”

But while he is stepping out of the limelight, he isn’t leaving the party and will be the fundraising guru for the 2016 local elections.

Jordan is full of praise and gratitude to the members of the Labour Party, especially the councillors who have supported him.

He is also keen to continue his work getting young people into politics.

He said: “I’m back where it all began as a foot soldier doing what I can for the Labour Party.

“We’ve got a lot of seats to defend and a lot of target seats.”

Jordan worked for Labour MP Hazel Blears, and, as she retired before the general election, he was made redundant.

He is now considering trying his hand at something different.

After the election he promised himself a month off.

It gave him time to spend with family and friends, a chance to draw breath and re-evaluate.

He said: “One of the things people don’t appreciate is my decision to be on the front line has a huge impact on family. It’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to step back. I need to give back time and energy and just be there for my friends and family.”

It was Jordan’s grandfather, Terry Porter, who died a year-and a half ago who was his inspiration for getting involved in the Labour Party. He was an active trade unionist at Harwich Port and took Jordan to visit Parliament when he was a teenager.

He said: “He was so encouraging.

I owe so much to my family.”

Jordan went on to do work experience with Ivan Henderson, Harwich’s first Labour MP.

He said: “I loved it. It was more the community side of it. We were dealing with case studies and the issues. That was valuable experience and really rewarding, especially when youwere able to solve a case and help people.”

So what’s next? A new challenge – but politics will never be far away.