When Shockat Adam beat shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth in the supposedly safe seat of Leicester South by just 979 votes, it sent shockwaves through the incoming Labour government.
Labour had not seen Leicester South as particularly vulnerable but a combination of Ashworth’s abstention on a ceasefire vote and his constituents’ frustration with a Labour party that they felt had left them behind saw the area return a so-called Gaza independent to parliament.
The campaign was ugly. So ugly in fact that Jonathan Ashworth described it as the most vitriolic campaign he’d ever been a part of.
There is a distinction to be made between intimidation and legitimate anger with your MP, particularly when it comes to an issue as emotive as Gaza.
But there are more questions about Shockat Adam’s campaign.
Why was another independent candidate who received just 339 votes on the receiving end of such intimidation too?
Ed Campbell went to Leicester South to meet Osman Admani.
Reporter: Ed Campbell
Camera: Sam Sharrocks
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12 сен 2024
