Keir Starmer has claimed Labour is “back” after his party fended off a by-election challenge from the Conservatives in West Yorkshire.
Arriving in Batley on the morning after his party defied expectations to hold the seat, Sir Keir invoked a football reference, telling assembled reporters:
“We’re gonna fight all the way, every inch of the way. And we’re going to win that battle. We’ve got to fight that. But Labour is back. This is just the start; I want many more days like this. Labour is coming home.”
The slogan “Labour is coming home” was first used by Tony Blair at the party’s 1996 conference – a reference to the popular song “Football’s Coming Home”, released that year to coincide with the Euro ‘96 football tournament.
Labour’s majority was cut to 300 votes in Batley and Spen, well below its 2019 vote share – but polls during the campaign had shown it losing the seat to the Conservatives, echoing the fate of other so-called “red wall” seats like Hartlepool.
But candidate Kim Leadbeater ultimately came top by emphasising her local credentials in a three-way race with the Conservatives, and former MP George Galloway.
Ms Leadbeater is the sister of Jo Cox, who sat as the consituency’s MP until her assassination by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum campaign.
Sir Keir said: “Everybody knows Kim, however they vote, they all know Kim because of what she’s put in – she’s of her community, she’s for her community, she’s got integrity, she believes in truth and honesty and in bringing people together. And that is exactly what I want for our Labour party, the values of our Labour Party.
“She will be a fantastic member of party of Parliament for Batley and Spen, a really fantastic member. I was elected into parliament on the same day as Jo Cox and we enter Parliament together, and there isn’t the day when we all don’t miss Jo. But Kim, she would be so proud to see you today, so proud to see you as a member of parliament.”
Speaking to the BBC on Friday morning before Sir Keir’s arrival, the newly elected MP twice declined to say whether her party leader had been an asset on the doorstep or a drag on support.
The result in the seat was a relief for Sir Keir, whose leadership was thought to be under threat of a challenge if he presided yet another by-election loss of a formerly secure Labour seat.
