A day after Keir Starmer quit as Holborn and St Pancras MP, one local voter was in no doubt which party will win the forthcoming by-election in this traditionally ruby-red north London seat.
“Labour will get in. They could put a pig in. They could put anyone in,” he told The i Paper.
But Starmer’s resignation, and unwanted parting gift to his No 10 deposer Andy Burnham, represents an unexpected headache for the new Prime Minister.
In the 2024 general election, Starmer’s majority was slashed by around 16,000 as his vote was squeezed by pro-Gaza candidates. Independent candidate Andrew Feinstein came second with 7,312 (18 per cent) to Labour’s 18,884 (48 per cent).
The Greens won just over 4,000 votes, around 10 per cent, and party leader Zack Polanski has indicated he will stand when the seat is contested again in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, there was a solid body of support for Labour among many Kentish Town residents The i Paper spoke to, but anger, too, over the Starmer Government’s stance on the Gaza-Israel conflict, his U-turns on policies like the winter fuel allowance as well as Labour’s performance on immigration.
And while some voters indicated they would switch to the Greens, doubts were raised by others about Polanski’s leadership.
Cherry Cookson, 77, said she was “very sad” Starmer was leaving and will be voting Labour in the by-election.
“I think he was a great MP. He was very disappointing as a prime minister. I think he couldn’t get out of the mindset of being a barrister,” she said.
Cherry added Starmer had been “very helpful” to her when she contacted him over a parking issue which went to court, and had emailed her to check how the case had gone.
She added: “I think he saved the Labour Party by stepping down.”
Keir Starmer playing football in Kentish Town during his spell in No 10 (Photo: SWNS)A retired teacher, 79, who wished to remain anonymous, also plans to vote Labour and used to say hello to Starmer when he saw him in the area, but said he is “is not a politician”.
“He’s out of his depth. A decent bloke. Obviously, just better on the international stage than the domestic,” he said.
“The U-turns on the domestic front are disappointing.”
He added he had no intention of voting Green, describing Polanski as “way too performative” and “superficial”.
“The local greens do play a very active role in this area. But that’s local politics,” he said.
In May’s local elections in Camden, Labour won 38 per cent to the Greens 29 per cent, with the Conservatives on 10 per cent, one point ahead of Reform.
Starmer’s decision to resign as an MP after indicating he would stay on in the seat has been criticised by some, but his departure from frontline politics comes a year after the home he lived in before entering No 10 was firebombed.
Keir Starmer’s former car was set alight last May. Two men were found guilty of conspiring to carry out arson attacks (Photo: PA)Pipa Monjardino, 58, described Starmer as “too reactionary” and had felt “he was not a socialist candidate”, leading her to campaign for Feinstein in the 2024 election.
“He’s [Starmer] a human rights lawyer, and showed that when he got into Downing Street that was quite irrelevant to him,” she said.
“Palestine is the obvious one. His failures to take any kind of action against Israel.”
She added she hopes Feinstein stands again in the forthcoming by-election.
Stephanie, 58, has been a member of the Labour Party since she was 16, and described it as “disappointing” Starmer had stepped down.
She plans to vote Labour again in the by-election, and said she was “not convinced” about Polanski, who she described as having a “questionable” background.
Daniel Purchase, 32, who lives just across the constituency border in Tulip Siddiq’s Hampstead and Highgate seat, felt while Starmer had performed well on Iran and Ukraine, he had “struggled to escape the shadow of the Peter Mandelson situation”.
But he said of the forthcoming by-election: “If I was living one or two roads this way, I would definitely still continue to vote for Labour.”
Katherine Barrett, 68, who voted Green in the May local elections, said she was still undecided which way she would sway in the by-election.
“He [Strarmer] was too privileged. He didn’t have his feet on the ground with real people. He was quite happy going to international meetings rather than dealing with anything in England,” she said.
“I don’t know whether Andy Burnham will influence people to vote Labour.”
Barry, 52, whose son was in the same school class as Starmer’s son, said he had an argument with Starmer over Covid rules in a pub during the pandemic.
“He came in with all his mates, and they weren’t wearing a mask. Seven to a table instead of six, to watch an Arsenal game,” he said.
He added he always votes Conservative, but feels it’s a “waste of a vote” in the area, a Labour heartland for decades.
Marie, 50, admired Starmer’s “sense of duty”, but while she would consider voting Green she would not cast her ballot for Polansky who she branded a “phony”.
“He likes the limelight. He hasn’t got the values that the Green Party should and certainly not the values that Starmer has.” she said.
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