Late this afternoon, I joined hundreds of Labour Party activists at the UNISON headquarters on Euston Road to campaign in the Holborn & St Pancras by-election happening today.
I was assigned as a board runner again—reluctantly, since I don’t know the area well and had a few “issues” earlier this week in the same role. Still, duty called, so I set off with a team of five, walking 13 minutes to Bloomsbury.
By coincidence, I’d met everyone before in various Labour movement contexts over the years—great activists from Tower Hamlets, Barking & Dagenham, Croydon, and Barnet, with me representing Newham.
We were sent to some beautiful on-street residential blocks managed by Camden Council, which I believe were compulsorily purchased in the 1960s or ’70s when they were run down and incredibly cheap compared to today. I climbed to the top of one staircase and found the roof door open, so I looked out and felt like I was in a Mary Poppins chimney scene!
The blocks seemed well managed and reportedly very spacious. Along the way, we met two local residents who were also Labour supporters, encouraging their neighbours to back Sagal.
There were at least four canvassing teams from Newham Labour out tonight, including our Mayor, Forhad Hussain.
I think the count is happening this evening—let’s see what happens. I’m hopeful, though politics is tricky to predict these days. While I worry about extremist politics on both the far left and far right, it’s nothing new in British politics, and I’m sure we’ll eventually navigate our way toward progressive change.
UPDATE: Great news. Sagal wins with significant majority. Burnham busts Green and Reform bubbles?
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