Thoughts on the Batley & Spen by-election

By now, we can all agree that the by-election in Batley & Spen has been the most atrocious and grim few weeks of political campaigning in British history. Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, vicious trolling, this by-election has witnessed everything, including the sobering retreat of common decency.

For a lot of people, vindication and satisfaction might have been found in Kim Leadbeater, sister of the murdered Jo Cox, winning but that itself is now extremely unlikely. Rather, the Conservatives are set to pick up yet another seat, and Labour’s distance from power grows more by the day.

The Tories winning is now really a foregone conclusion but in light of everything that’s been happening there, an insignificant detail positioned next to things which deserve far greater scrutiny. Was this an election of Muslim antisemitism/homophobia? Was this an election that showcased Islamophobic attitudes? Is there a bigotry of low expectations regarding bigotry amongst Muslims? There’s a lot to dissect here, so forgive me if my coverage of events here is muddled at times.

Batley & Spen is a Red Wall seat. It’s also a seat that is home to a significant number of British Muslims. And like a lot of other Red Wall seats, Labour is losing this one too. But whereas the narrative before is about listening to the Red Wall, here it has shifted to where you had a Labour insider briefing the Daily Mail by saying that Muslim votes were going because of Labour’s approach to antisemitism under Starmer. You…