Pimp My Prospects is sure Callaghan’s win will be the first of many. He is just 23 years-old…

Here’s the results in full:

Pitsea North West Ward

Pitsea North West – results

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Gavin Dominic Callaghan	Labour	932	49%	Elected
Andrew Simon Baggott	Conservative	564	29%	Not elected
Terry Douglas McBride	UK Independence Party	323	17%	Not elected
Martin Keith Howard	Liberal Democrat	97	5%	Not elected

Share of the votes (%)

Gavin Dominic Callaghan	49%	Elected
Andrew Simon Baggott	29%	Not elected
Terry Douglas McBride	17%	Not elected
Martin Keith Howard	5%	Not elected

Up for the challenge: It's Callaghan's job to make sure MPs can "give it back".

Gavin Callaghan grew up in a rough area in Essex, but says working in Parliament is the most tumultuous environment he’s ever found himself in. “You watch debates in the chamber on the television and you just think they’re having a row,” says Callaghan, who turned 23 this month.

“But when you’re actually there and you’ve got two, three times the number of people against you shouting and hurling abuse at you telling you that you’re wrong and that you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s intimidating.”

He adds: “It takes a lot of balls to just stand there and give it back and be coherent and never lose your cool.” It is Callaghan’s job to make sure MPs can, as he puts it, “give it back”. He is a press advisor for Dan Jarvis, shadow culture minister, and Steve Rotheram, Labour MP for Liverpool Walton. Callaghan studied Politics at Newcastle University, and two days after graduating in 2010 he began working as a sports radio commentator for Betfred in Manchester. But he always had his eyes on a job in Westminster.

“You’ve got to be strategic in how you go about manufacturing opportunities for yourself,” says Callaghan, who studied English Literature, Politics and Classics at A Level. “I knew Dan Jarvis was going to win the Barnsley Central by-election on March 3rd so in February I came down and started working with Gloria De Piero for a couple of weeks because I’d made a contact with her in journalism.

“As soon as he was elected I persuaded Gloria to talk to him to get me a job. It didn’t just happen. You make your own luck, I think that’s the trick.” Callaghan isn’t content with just helping shape the arguments for others, he has plenty himself – he’s standing for council in Basildon, Essex, this summer. But it isn’t the first time he’s stood for election.

“There was an election for head boy at my school which I won the popular vote but it was vetoed by the teachers so I never won,” says Callaghan. “Maybe I was just a bit too controversial for one or two of the senior staff at my school. I’ve got a history of dog-eat-dog politics already.”

But what advice does Callaghan have for young people who dream of a career in politics? “I grew up in quite a rough place called Chadwell Heath, near Romford in Ilford. Now I’m standing here looking at Big Ben – anyone can do it, you’ve just got to know what you want and make it happen.”

A snapshot of Callaghan’s typical day: “My first email comes through at 5.30am, which is from the Labour Party and is a comprehensive brief of everything in the papers. So I get up and read that so I know everything that has gone on, as I make my way into work.

“I work for two MPs so I’m constantly on the lookout for news in South Yorkshire and Barnsley and also on Merseyside. I’ll brief both of them at around half seven, eight o’clock in the morning. Their offices are next door to each other so I’ll go in and have a sit down next to them separately.

“I’ll look at the news agenda for that day and look at how best they can hold the government to account through written questions and speeches – this where a degree in politics is actually invaluable. So many people I work with don’t actually understand the Parliamentary process, how to work around Parliament and get round adjournment debates and Westminster Hall debates.

“I think you’ve got to prepared to not have a social life, Monday to Thursday. It’s long hours, an MP will say that being an MP is not a job, it’s a way of life – I think in some respects, if you’re going to work for an MP, you have to adhere to that as well. You’ve got to be prepared to throw yourself into the deep end.”

Callaghan helped write this speech by Dan Jarvis:

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzZy7n46_t8&context=C348fecaADOEgsToPDskLEg9vALI-SyZIjeWn8coek