Barbara Hall was enjoying a quiet morning with a group of senior citizens in Wakefield when it was announced that a special guest would be present. Hall, a retired saleswoman, watched Keira Starmer work in the room. “I wasn’t convinced,” she said. “He’s an awkward man, isn’t he?” It does not fit. Boris Johnson would fit. He would make us scream and laugh.
Rare is a Wakefield resident who has not had to avoid a politician or voice reporter in recent weeks as expectations of Thursday’s vote rise. If the polls are correct, Labor must regain the place it lost to the Tories in 2019 – the party’s first gain since the 2012 election after Corby.
But after an early poll gave Labor a 20-point lead, party figures rushed to lower expectations.
“I can definitely say that we are not 20 points ahead and we are fighting for every vote. The fact that we won only one by-election [rather than successfully defended a seat] for 25 years shows the scale of the task. We are not destined to win, “said Louise Hay, the shadow transport secretary who is leading the Labor campaign.
Traditional wisdom suggests that Wakefield should be a killer for Labor: by-elections, when the prime minister’s approval rating was almost no lower, caused by the imprisonment of incumbent MP Imran Ahmad Khan for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.
And yet, over and over again, the Guardian hears Johnson describe Wakefield as “the best of the bad guys,” with little mention of Khan’s proven pedophilia. “Tory’s deliberate strategy” is to portray all MPs as corrupt and self-serving, murmured a Labor MP who has campaigned several times in the constituency: “They realize they are in conflict with Johnson and get out of it, paint make it extremely bad and bake us with the same brush.
Maintenance worker Gary Firm, who was enjoying the sun with a client on Friday, illustrated Labor’s problem. “I don’t trust any of the politicians around me right now,” he said. “I see Boris at the helm and yes, he made some mistakes. He was pretty horrible in parts. But overall, he did good things. So I would support him. “
There is little love for Starmer in Wakefield, who made his third visit to the constituency on Saturday. “He is a critic. He’s not an action man, “Hall said. Caroline Walker, a teacher of fine arts, was also unimpressed: “What’s his name? Captain Hindsight. This is him next to the T-shirt. [He should] come up with something that is plausible. But he doesn’t. He just has experience all the time. “
The idea that Johnson received the right “big calls” is widespread. “I feel that Boris Johnson did well with Covid. I have a feeling that if someone else was in his place, they may not have done as well as him, “said Aisha Ahmed, an 18-year-old student. She also endorsed Johnson’s expansion of the right to buy community homes: “I think that’s really good because paying rent is more than a mortgage.
It weighs in on the vote for Conservative candidate Nadym Ahmed or the popular local independent, Akef Akbar, who can bite off both Tory and Labor votes. He left the Tories in March after becoming the first Conservative in decades to win the normally safe Labor territory of Wakefield East, an area higher than the average Asian population.
One Wakefield voter said Keir Starmer (right) was “uncomfortable” compared to Boris Johnson, who “will make us scream and laugh.” Photo: Dave Higgens / PA
Ahmed’s friends look on in horror when they hear her praise of Johnson. Zahra Nadir, 17, wants to defeat “anyone but the Conservatives”, citing racism and government immigration policy as her reasons. “We don’t actually steal jobs, do we?” She said. “And some of the comments [Johnson] made for the burqa – not right. “
Teacher Sarah McGarry said she voted for Labor to try to get the Tories out. “I’ve been a big fan of Corbyn myself, so I’m probably a little cooler than Keir Starmer. But then I just have to compare it to the current one [government] and the current state of the country and the fact that [the Tories] have been in power for 12 years and I think the country has gone downhill, especially in education. “
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Peter Bagshaw, who worked at the Kellingley Stone Mine, the last deep coal mine in Britain, until its closure in 2015, expects a Labor victory. The Tories only won Wakefield in 2019 because of Brexit, he said. Mary Cree, a Labor MP since 2005, was “very, very much to stop in Europe. She was very much against Brexit, “he recalled.
Labor himself until 2019, when he joined the Tories, Bagshaw said he was not ready to return to the leadership of Keira Starmer. “I do not think he is the right person for the Labor Party. I think just across the hill lives a man, Dan Jarvis [MP for Barnsley]. I think he would be a much better leader of the Labor Party. It’s more down-to-earth and I think it would draw a lot of the floating voices back to… Keir Starmer comes in as weak. ”
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