CHAIR OF THE WARRANTS COMMITTEE JOHN LIVINGSTON SITS DOWN WITH JACK RANKIN MP THE WRITE APPROACH
2 SEPTEMBER 2025
10pm July 4th 2024 the 33 year old Jack Rankin watched the polling stations in Windsor close. Labour were 2:1 on with the bookies to beat Jack. Now he has one of the biggest majorities of any Conservative MP. Chair of the Stationers Warrants Pannel John Livingston catches up with his local MP to find out the role handwriting has in his success.
“I had 2 previous attempts to win a seat. After each election I took the time to hand write a note of thanks to everyone who contributed time and / or money to the campaign”, “I needed to make my expression of thanks very personal. So when it came to fight the Windsor constituency I already had a strong base of loyal support to draw on”.
“Motivating party workers is key, I used 100s of individual notes during the 2024 election. My house was campaign HQ, whenever possible I would hand write a note on the bundles of leaflets or canvas sheets going out. If someone is spending a day knocking on doors or delivering for you, they need to know how much the candidate appreciates their efforts. Election laws keep spending during a campaign to peanuts but a hand written note costs nothing”.
Now the campaign is won, hand written notes are still key. “I hand wrote over 200 Christmas cards to workers and supporters with personal notes where ever possible”.
“I will always hand write a note for issues like a family loss, I think that is important, but I was also delighted to oblige, when a constituent’s friends asked me to hand write a congratulations note for her 100th birthday, that was special to me”.
The late James Molineux used to hand write 70 -80 letters to constituents a day but Jack only has time for about 5. “With 2 pre-school age sons and a massive work load I have to pick and choose the notes I write, but they are a key tool in my armoury”.
So what does incoming correspondence look like for the new MP? “I get about 200 emails & letters a day. I have a great team to help me process the heavy work load. However I will always read a hand written letter. If someone has gone to the trouble of hand writing a letter, addressing an envelope and putting a stamp on it, I will always read it personally and reply. That’s how to get to the top of my mail pile”.
Does Jack have a favourite style of brand of pen? “Any pen with a built in spell check works for me” he joked.