Up next in 10
Henry Riley joins James O'Brien as he recounts his night in Camden, watching the results of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election unfold.
He shares his conversation with newly appointed MP Sagal Abdi-Wali.
Her main opponent was Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Polanski was vying for a Commons seat after former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stood down from the north London constituency.
Instead, Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali retained the seat for her party.
Polanski could face a challenge to his leadership within months - with the Green Party's constitution requiring him to face a leadership election every two years.
He has, however, vowed to stay on as leader.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Henry Riley is here, it's been a while
0:01
Speaking of snowflakes. Speaking of snowflakes, here he is. You've been in Hoban
0:06
Yes. Have you been up all night? Have you actually put in a full all-nighter? I've had 44 minutes of shut-eye
0:13
That's plenty. Yeah, it's plenty. But it was nice and convenient, this one at Camden Council
0:17
A very nice, posh building. And we had the by-election, of course, for Hoban and St Pancras
0:23
The name to remember now is Seagal Abdiwali, who, if anything like the predecessors of that seat
0:28
is going to have an illustrious political career. Sir Keir Starmer, the immediate predecessor. Of course, 11 years as that MP became Prime Minister
0:34
Before that, Frank Dobson, who's very well known in Labour circles as well, former Cabinet Minister, Mayor of London
0:40
our candidate, sadly, no longer with us. I did my holiday cover once. Oh, really
0:44
Oh, right. Do you not know this? I love Frank. I did not know this. Sometimes, I'm sure this doesn't happen when you're in the chair, Henry
0:51
but producers tend to do even more work than the presenters on some programmes, I'm told. What
0:55
Yeah, apparently. And so they would be writing on the screen things for Frank to say or suggestions, writing on the screen
1:02
And famously, when he was standing in for me, Frank Dobson once went, would you like a cup of tea, Frank
1:07
Oh, sorry. No, I shouldn't. So anyway, carry on. You've got more important things to tell us
1:12
No, I love that. That's made me happy. And so, I mean, look, big win for Sigal Abduvalli because particularly early on in the campaign
1:19
it looked like it could be a bit of a banana skin, this by-election, because the Green Party selected their leader, Zach Polanski
1:24
You also had George Galloway, who had his worst ever election result at a parliamentary level, I have to say
1:30
But with him, you're never quite sure how it's going to go. He did not actually set foot in the constituency
1:36
He didn't set foot in the UK because he's currently living in what he describes as self-imposed exile in Russia, George Galloway
1:43
But nonetheless, she was run fairly close by Zach Polanski, the Green Party leader
1:47
This is what Segal Abdiwali told supporters at Camden Council. Finally, I want to talk about some of the experiences that I've had over the last few weeks
1:56
In Camden, our diversity is a strength and our cohesion has been too hard one to take for granted
2:05
Since I was a child, I've watched people across Camden work to build communities where difference is not something to fear, but something to value
2:13
We cannot allow that work built over generations to be casually undone by those who seek to divide us
2:20
We have a responsibility to defend what we've built and pass it on
2:25
Hope is not naive Without hope there is nothing to build on and nothing to build for People need to believe that politics can make their lives better and that their communities can thrive and that tomorrow can be better than today
2:37
Our campaign gave people something to believe in while offering the practical experience and determination to deliver it
2:43
And that is what this victory represents. Winning not by making people afraid of each other
2:49
but by bringing people together around a positive vision for what our community and our country can be
2:54
Throughout our campaign, we chose hope, and the people of Hobeland St Pancras chose it with us
3:04
She is the leader of Camden Council. She's only been in the job a few months, four months or so
3:08
She came to the UK as a child refugee. She was six years old when she came from Somalia in the 1990s
3:16
But unfortunately, before she was selected, there was a lot of publicity because of remarks that Zia Youssef had made
3:21
the Reform UK Home Affairs spokesperson, where he had said, the frontrunner was born in Somalia
3:28
Do you understand what's happening? And I asked, you might remember that
3:32
Yeah, I do. What's happening? Well, I asked Sehgal Abdiwali what she thought he meant by that
3:38
You'll have to ask him. All I know is why the reaction that that sort of led to
3:43
It was just really sad and pathetic, I thought. And ultimately, my ambition I had with this campaign
3:48
was making sure it was hopeful, making sure young people could see that leading with hope
3:52
would lead to something, it would lead to major change. And so I want to make sure that, yeah
3:56
I'm just going to continue working in that way. Do you think Zionism is racism? I said no previously, so no
4:02
No. And what did you make of the campaign Zach Polanski ran? You'll have to ask him about that. I really only focus on my own campaign
4:07
and obviously it's led to a victory here, so I'm really proud of that. My conversation with Seagal Abduvalli
4:11
and Zach Polanski came second. I think at one point, the Greens have had an interesting year
4:16
because they've won their first ever parliamentary by-election this year in Gorton and Denton with Hannah Spencer
4:21
So similar circumstances, they were a distant third. At this time, they clearly thought it could be an opportunity for Zach Polanski to get into the House of Commons
4:29
Obviously, it didn't work out. There's now been pressure about his leadership. Caroline Lucas, who's sort of synonymous with the party, suggesting, as the polls shut, actually
4:37
that he should, or the coming days and weeks, he needs to make clear that he is in charge
4:43
and needs to assert his leadership of the party. Indeed, Zach Polanski was asked by reporters about whether he would still be leader
4:49
This is what he said. Of course I can carry on as leader of the Green Party
4:53
What just happened in Hobon and St Pancras is we over tripled our vote share Of course I wanted to win No one runs an election to lose But ultimately what I seen over the last few weeks are people who are excited about our plans for rent controls tackling the climate crisis and nationalising Thames water
5:09
And I mean he was only there for about 10 minutes. Blink and you miss it. He yeah and to be fair I
5:13
mean that's not uncommon if you if you lose. He was gracious in that he actually turned up to stand
5:17
on the stage. Unlike some people. Doesn't always happen. But he I mean he was sort of kept in a
5:22
corner. You can't really blame him. By-elections are exhausting for journalists. I can't imagine what
5:26
they're like for politicians when you spend all morning knocking on doors. But he wasn't particularly
5:30
forthcoming. He did nonetheless stay on the stage. He was clapping, actually, at various points of Sir Ghalabdi
5:34
Wali's speech. But it's interesting, James, you talked to some of the activists down there
5:40
people very keen not to necessarily speak on the record, but those who've been helping the Green Party, working with the Green Party
5:47
And this is a problem. This is coming up on the doorstep, this
5:51
motion of Zionism is racism. His leadership is coming up on the doorstep and I think
5:58
when the likes of Caroline Lucas are getting involved it certainly is piling an awful lot of pressure
6:02
on him. Yeah and I've read it a little more since we discussed it on air. I've had
6:06
time and a little bit more space and the same motion called for self-determination
6:10
for the Palestinian people while of course the Zionism is racism line is rejecting self-determination
6:16
for Jewish people in the region. So again I mean it's morally troubling
6:20
for an awful lot of people. It's intellectually inconsistent as well. So you can see why
6:26
Well, he tried to have his cake and eat it, Polanski, didn't he? He kind of kept his counsel, subsequently belatedly revealed
6:32
well, I'd have voted against it if I'd even been there, but I didn't, and it passed, and I'm the leader of the party that now has this on its statute book
6:39
so to speak. Yeah, and it's strange because the Green Party is a very democratic structure, if nothing else
6:44
and the members decide the policy ultimately. It does put the leader in a tricky position
6:48
But he's also got the strange situation of he has to run for leader again next year, because every two years, according to the Green Party constitution, there has to be a leadership election
6:57
So quite how helpful or otherwise that's going to be when he's presumably there will be some sort of challenge within the
7:03
George Galloway might throw his fedora into the room. I don't think he's based on some of the things he was saying about Zach Polanski, that the two are not natural bedfellows
7:11
They're very, very rude about each other. but I have to say James
7:15
of the by-elections I've been to Bin Face wasn't standing we did have Balmy Brunch
7:20
who I've shown you a picture of is it like baked beans yeah beans he got a face mask made of baked beans it like a balaclava and he got fried just to give you the fried eggs for the eyes Yes He got a grilled tomato for the nose
7:34
He's got a microphone. No, you've had a long night. A big old sausage for the mouth
7:40
You can't see that from this angle. He's got bacon on the old ears
7:45
and then right at the top is streaky bacon for the eyebrows. I wonder if the fascists are turning up at RNLI stations
7:51
If they wore masks like that, they might cut a slightly less fascistic
7:56
I don't know. I just thought that, you know, there it is
8:00
So, I mean, pretty much of a piece with the broader political trends at the moment
8:05
The green boost has gone that followed Polanski's election as leader. Burnham's honeymoon is continuing and a local candidate has secured a victory
8:15
And, of course, Kemi-Badanox conservatives have done absolutely brilliantly because of the Kemi factor
8:20
Well, they came third, but they got... Or first, as we say, in Kemi-Badenhock's world
8:26
Yeah, if there was no Labour or Greens, they did come first. They got 7.1% of the vote
8:30
Their vote share was actually down. Yes, exactly. Up. On the general election
8:34
Brilliant. But I can't remember what you said. It's been a long night
8:37
It's been a long night. It's been a long night. But as far as the sort of by-election goes, James..
8:43
Oh, yeah, that was what I was going to say. I think it was a potential banana skin, this, for anybody
8:47
Yes, true. I do think genuinely, whilst it's a safe Labour seat and this seat bleeds Labour, it's never had an MP from another party
8:53
I do think, given what Sir James Cleverley is saying, the Tory candidate for Mayor of London, that Andy Burnham just doesn't get London
9:00
He's anti-London. For him to win in this seat, I actually think is really important. Yes, I agree. And of course, I suppose now that the successful candidate has been elected to Parliament
9:10
she will face accusations of being too integrated from people like Zia Yusuf and others
9:16
who seem to think that immigrants should integrate, prove their loyalty to this country by integrating
9:21
but not that much, like Sadiq Khan and others. One minute after, 12 is the time
9:27
So what we've got there in that picture, what's his name again? Captain Brunch? No, Balmy Brunch
9:31
Balmy Brunch. That is, as Eleanor has just pointed out, that is what you could call a patriotic breakfast balaclava
9:38
Yeah, true, actually. We should sell merch on this programme, shouldn't we
9:42
They're always talking about it. I think we might have just come up with our first product. I shall commission Uxbridge's finest tailor
9:49
to make me a patriotic breakfast balaclava. It's two. Well done. Are you going to have a snooze
9:54
Make it two, by the way. I'm going to have a snooze. One for Henry as well. Mine's extra large
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