I think the new MP for Southend West, Anna Firth, was rather missing the point when she started to celebrate her victory in the by election following the murder of David Amess: “I think the scale of my victory shows that people like the Conservative government.” Well, yes: she did win over 86% of the vote, securing a majority of over 12,000 but there were certain other factors at work here, the main one of which was that none of the major national parties ran a candidate for the simple reason that they believe elections results should only be overturned by subsequent elections, not by killing the sitting MP.
The nature of a democracy meant that no one was barred from standing in Southend West, so whilst we can express our contempt, or otherwise, for those who did, technically they did nothing wrong. So, Ms Firth found herself up against a motley collection of self-styled eccentrics, fruitcakes, the hard right and, in at least one case, an actual fascist in the form of Britain First’s Jayda Fransen.
Ms Firth’s great victory was also teinted by other matters, not least that the turn out of 24% was one of the lowest since World War Two and there were over 1000 spoiled ballot papers, included in that 24%. The good news, I suppose, is that the Nazi candidate Fransen came in fifth, behind the Psychedelic Movement candidate and two hard right cranks including Ukip.
It is surely right that Firth won in such tragic circumstances. That she is an unapologetic Boris Johnson supporter is a fair enough because in 2019 Southend West voters supported the party led by him. However, the scale of her victory should mean nothing either to her or anyone else.
The by election result upholds our democracy, that’s all. And that’s enough.
