Jonathan Ashworth, who lost his seat in Leicester South to an independent candidate, said on Beth Rigby’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that he wishes he had spoken out more about intimidation during the election campaign.
A senior Labour lawmaker who lost their seat in a surprising election outcome has hinted at a possible return to parliament.
Jonathan Ashworth, the former Labour MP for Leicester South who was beaten by an independent candidate, stated on Beth Rigby’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that he is “still around” and “not going anywhere.”.
Shortly after his election setback, Mr Ashworth, who was expected to join the cabinet, was appointed head of the prominent Labour thinktank Labour Together.
When Rigby asked if he could return to Westminster if the circumstances permitted, such as in a by-election, Mr Ashworth replied, “I’m still around. I am still going to be involved. “I am not going anywhere.”
Rigby interjected: “I’m going to put a wager on here with myself, obviously betting on political events—ill-advised, if you’re in our profession—but I can see a by-election situation in which Jon Ashworth returns. “Just putting it out there.”
Mr Ashworth responded, “Well, all I can say is that people have gotten into a lot of trouble betting on politics in recent weeks.” So just take care!”
The former Labour MP, who represented Leicester South from 2011 until the election, was defeated by Shockat Adam, an independent candidate who ran on a pro-Gaza platform, by a mere 979 votes.
Mr Ashworth described the loss of his position as “shocking” and “brutal.”
He did, however, admit that the fight for his seat was “very difficult” and “nasty.”
“I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was,” he told me.
“But look, in the end, if a big part of your constituency feels that the campaign is a referendum on one issue in Gaza and felt that somehow I was responsible for the absolutely horrific scenes that we have seen in Gaza, it’s very difficult to try and persuade people that that is not the case, even though we were actually calling for the things that people wanted us to do and demanding of us.”
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When asked if he thought the media coverage of the election campaign reflected what was going on on the ground, Mr. Ashworth said: “I made the decision during the campaign not to make a big deal about all of this and not to make it a national media story, because I didn’t think that would help.
“Perhaps that was wrong. Perhaps, in retrospect, I should have done it.
“If people had known what was going on, they might have turned out and voted for me.
“I don’t know, but this is a really frightening phenomenon in British politics.”
The former MP, who was shadow paymaster general before the election, also discussed how the dynamics of parliament had altered since his party won a landslide victory with 411 seats and a 174-seat majority.
He stated that over the last decade, it has not been uncommon for opposition MPs to band together and defeat the administration, with rebels on the government side.
“Things have completely changed in parliament. This Labour government commands a large majority. It has the ability to steamroll things through.”
Mr. Ashworth continued, “And this type of procession of independent MPs is fairly ineffective. They sit there as a gaggle of sad parliamentary eunuchs, really, since they will be unable to deliver anything.
“However, the Labour government is attempting to achieve peace in the Middle East. So, while I’m clearly astonished and sad, if you play politics, you have to accept that you will win and lose.
“You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.”