When Sagal Abdi-Wali was hesitating over whether to stand in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, there was a moment friends say pushed her to apply.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf posted to X: “The frontrunner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former prime minister Keir Starmer in our parliament was born in Somalia. Do you understand what’s happening?”
A dog-whistle accompanied by a picture of Abdi-Wali, and widely condemned as racism. Overnight, that Somalian-born woman – who arrived in London as a seven-year-old refugee from one of the most bloody wars ever waged, and who spoke no English – became the new MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
An extraordinary journey that no main character energy from Zack Polanski should diminish. Meanwhile, at a time when women are leaving politics in droves, and women of colour even more so, the new MP’s courage should humble her Far Right critics.
On the podium, she seemed to be addressing Mr Yusuf, as well as those who had voted for her. “I hope this moment also says something about who gets to belong,” she said, in a speech in the early hours of the morning. “For people who look like me, I hope they see your themselves reflected in this place and know that they, their path too belongs here.
“This is Camden and this is Britain… I want young people to know that their background does not determine the size of their dreams, and the public life is a place for them to make a difference.”
This election will rightly be talked about as the moment Andy Burnham showed his newly fired-up party could win south of Watford Gap. And the moment Zack Polanski’s eco-populist machine faltered.
It’s evidence of why the Labour membership voted Keir Starmer out and Andy Burnham in – to bring the progressive left back together in the fight of its life against Far Right forces. But it’s patronising to suggest this was an election just about two men fighting it out for political supremacy.
Inspired by her mum, a lawyer and community activist, at 42, Abdi-Wali has already given back in spades to the country that offered her refuge – a governor at two local schools and a volunteer and trustee at charities in North London, and became the first black woman to lead Camden Council.
She has spoken about how sport – and especially football – was the language she and her four brothers spoke to make friends when they had no English at primary school. “We all just spoke this universal language,” she said.
Abdi-Wali joined the Labour Party in 2015 because she was shocked by the rise in homelessness under the Tories. And now she has won 45 per cent of the vote in a difficult, high-stakes by-election.
After becoming Camden council leader in May, she said: “Camden has been my home for 35 years. It is the place that gave my family sanctuary, that welcomed us, and that has shaped so much of who I am.
“I’ve spent so much of my life trying to give back through community work in public service, and now to represent Camden in Parliament is perhaps the greatest way I can continue that journey.”
Watch this space.
