Politics
Defeated Labour MP slams ‘The Muslim Vote’ and details abuse during campaign
Jonathan Ashworth was forced to take refuge in a vicarage
July 11, 2024 16:34
Jonathan Ashworth was forced to take refuge in a vicarage
July 11, 2024 16:34A Labour MP defeated by an anti-Israel independent candidate has spoken out about the abuse he received during the election campaign.
Jonathan Ashworth told radio station LBC: “I have never known a campaign of such vitriol, such bullying, such intimidation built on the foul obnoxious lie that I was responsible for genocide. That I had the blood of Gazan children on my hands.”
'I was chased down the street... I had to seek refuge in a vicarage.'
— LBC (@LBC) July 10, 2024
In his first interview since he was unseated, @JonAshworth tells @AndrewMarr9 that he will 'stand up to bullies' after being targeted by key campaigners for an organisation called 'The Muslim Vote'. pic.twitter.com/qigS1bJIGd
At one point in the campaign Ashworth was “was chased down the street and shouted and screamed at for 40-45 minutes and he “had to seek refuge … literally in a vicarage.”
The defeated MP detailed how vitriolic the issue of the war in Gaza had become during the campaign, and that he was verbally abused in front of his daughter: “I was campaigning with my 10-year-old daughter on election day and one of these loudmouths shouted at me ‘genocidal Jon’” and that everyone despised him.
In the interview with broadcaster Andrew Marr, Ashworth hit out at The Muslim Vote (TMV), a group set up to drive Muslims away from Labour and towards more radical, anti-Israel candidates.
There is no suggestion that TMV had organised a campaign of intimidation against Ashworth.
During the general election campaign, the JC revealed that TMV was founded by Islamists who backed violent Palestinian “resistance” two days after the October 7 massacres.
Ashworth, formerly a key member of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team, suffered a shock defeat on election night at the hands of independent candidate Shockat Adam in Leicester South.
Adam was one of five independent MPs who received the backing of TMV.
In his victory speech, the new Leicester South MP, where around one third of voters are Muslim, pulled out a Palestinian keffiyeh and declared “this is for the people of Gaza.”