The sectarian shame of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election

There is a positive and negative way of looking at Thursday’s by-election in Holborn and St Pancras. The positive is that, whatever happens, Keir Starmer won’t be in Westminster. The negative is that the campaign to replace him is deepening the vicious sectarianism now ripping through British political life.

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, is one of the frontrunners for this central London seat. Like Hannah Spencer, the latest addition to the Greens’ parliamentary caucus, Polanski has decided that sectarianism offers him the most promising route to Westminster. He has released campaign videos in Urdu and Bengali. And his campaign material has been written in Somali, with local media reports describing him as being ‘flanked’ by a team of Somali interpreters at hustings.

The big prize for Polanski is winning the hearts and minds of Muslim voters. Leaflets show Polanski’s face superimposed on a Palestinian flag. They also inform voters that the Green candidate has the endorsement of the Camden Muslim Alliance and the Muslim Vote, the political organisation considered critical in electing the ‘Gaza independents’ to parliament in 2024. Predictably, Polanski has spent much time discussing Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza and promising to enact tougher BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) policies against the Jewish State.

Polanski likes to insist that his multilingual campaigning is all about bringing people together. He should try translating this message to some of his supporters. A discussion point at a hustings organised by the Camden Muslim Alliance in late September was why, under international law, America is allowed to have nuclear weapons, but not Iran. Last week, Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the Greens, released a video urging voters to reject Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali. Not because of her policies, but because of her ‘dangerous’ association with local Labour councillor Izzy Lenga, a British-Israeli Jew who appears to have trained with the Israel Defence Forces.

Perhaps the most odious aspect of the by-election has been the role of Stand Up To Racism. In September, an activist from Restore Britain – the right-wing political party established by Rupert Lowe – was effectively ambushed as he dropped pamphlets into letterboxes. Members of Stand Up To Racism encircled the volunteer and blared abuse at him through megaphones.

What happened next was even worse. A police officer approached the Restore canvasser and began to usher him down the street. He insisted on his right to distribute election material peacefully. ‘Stop pushing me’, he said to the officer. But the officer was having none of it. ‘I’ll get you out of this area’, he said. In other words, the police exiled the Restore campaigner, rather than confronting Stand Up To Racism and taking action against what was an obvious attempt to coerce and intimidate a political opponent.

These are signs of a democracy in very poor health. In fact, it even seems a stretch to call this process democratic. In our new age of sectarianism, winning elections – particularly in urban seats – is now less about winning hearts and minds. Instead, it is about taking maximum advantage of the UK’s growing religious and ethnic enclaves. The more Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Somali or even simply Muslim voters a candidate can coax to the ballot box, the more likely he or she is to win. And because many of these voters are poorly integrated, the best way to do this is by campaigning in a foreign language or by highlighting a religious grievance. The ‘demos’ of democracy – an assembly of citizens – is increasingly being replaced with fragmented interest groups.

And if you don’t like the fact that British society has become like this? Well, that’s too bad. Whatever you think of Restore Britain, the canvasser targeted by Stand Up To Racism had every right to make his case in the court of public opinion. It isn’t against the law to be a member of Restore or to support its policies. It is, however, against the law to abuse, harass and intimidate political opponents. Not that the police seem to have taken any notice.

Sectarianism and political intimidation are becoming a feature, rather than a bug, of British politics. If we allow these evils to fester, then what we’ve seen in Holborn and St Pancras will be just the beginning. There are dark days ahead for British democracy.