‘I’ve never known a campaign of such vitriol, such bullying, such intimidation’, says ousted Labour MP
One of the few, but significant, Labour casualties at the general election was Jonathan Ashworth, who was the MP for Leicester South and a familiar face to the public.
He lost his seat to an independent candidate, Shockat Adam, who was extremely critical of Labour for, in his view, not doing enough to oppose the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
We spoke to him a short while ago, he said he is “delighted we’ve got a Labour government”, but is “obviously disappointed to have lost my constituency in pretty brutal circumstances”.
He went on: “I’ve never known a campaign of such vitriol, such bullying, such intimidation.
“I’ve never seen a member of parliament, Shockat Adam Patel, get elected on the basis of a foul and obnoxious lie that I was responsible for genocide, that I had the blood of Gazan children on my hands.”
He accused Mr Adam’s supporters of “bullying and intimidating myself and my key supporters in the streets”.
Mr Ashworth also hit out at his successor for not answering questions about his campaign, saying it’s “very disrespectful to the people of Leicester South”.
“He is focusing on keeping his head down and running away from scrutiny. He should be sat in this chair answering simple, straightforward questions about the conduct of his campaign.”
Mr Ashworth added that he was not the only one who faced “intimidation” during the campaign, noting that Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Home Office minister Jess Phillips both spoke out in detail about what they experienced.
A spokesperson for Shockat Adam told Sky News last night: “Shockat was elected by a diverse coalition of voters in Leicester South.
“He is focused on delivering for his constituents, and will not be distracted by sour grapes from a beaten rival whose divisive politics were resoundingly rejected at the ballot box.”