Speculation over cabinet role for Wolverhampton MP who Sir Keir Starmer rang after exit poll
One of the first people Sir Keir Starmer phoned after last night's historic exit poll was Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden.
The futures of the Labour leader and his campaign co-ordinator have been inextricably linked since the moment the Wolverhampton South East MP accepted the job.
The pair speak "pretty much every day" and tackled the party's election strategy, manifesto and direction together and pulled off one of the biggest landslides ever.
The 59-year-old Scotsman said he was "waiting like everyone else" to see if the new Prime Minister will reward him with a cabinet job. If the phone does ring, it could be by the end of today.
Mr McFadden knew when he accepted campaign co-ordinator his entire career in politics would be judged on success or failure of this General Election.
No second chances and anything short of total victory he would be destined to go down as the man who blew a generational chance to get Labour into power. But if successful the plaudits would go to the leader and the electoral victory would be remembered as a forgone conclusion. As soon as the exit poll was revealed the pair wanted to talk to each other.
Mr McFadden told the Express & Star: "I spoke to Keir shortly after the exit poll. We worked very closely together on this campaign over the last year, and especially over the last six weeks, I obviously pretty much speak every day.
"So we spoke, I think he has done a really good job changing the Labour Party and I think he will be a good prime minister.
"Turnout is a concern, people do feel beaten down they have been promised a lot and have been let down. One of the things we tried to have a quite responsible manifesto that did not over promise.
"We worked on the manifesto together and got stick for it, we were told it was not ambitious enough, people popping up and saying what about this problem or that problem. We were told we were not promising enough.
"I would rather under promise and over deliver instead of the other way round. We talked about first steps in the Labour camp, getting the NHS waiting list down, growth, get some jobs back, hiring teachers, we did not want to promise the earth because instead of inspiring voters you can turn them off."
When asked if he was looking foward to sitting round the cabinet table, the MP said with a smile: "Ah, that is up to him, I do not know about that, it is up to the prime minister to appoint his cabinet, I'll wait and see."
There is no chance of Mr McFadden putting his feet up or going on holiday after the victory, and he admitted he will not have much time to savour the success.
He said: "Not long at all, the British system is hasty in the changeover, pretty much straight away. Things will move fast later today so there will be no time to dwell on it."