Peterborough: The worst of all possible results?

The result of the by-election in Peterborough was never going to be my taste. It seemed like a two-horse race between the Brexit Party and Labour who already held the seat. The possibility that this might revert to the Conservatives was highly unlikely though they polled better than expected.

In the end Labour won with a small majority with a candidate who has distasteful views on Jews and it's not just anti-Zionism when she "likes" a post that accuses the prime Minister Theresa May of having "Zionist slave masters". Such wild eyed conspiracy theories are the realms of Nazi's and other anti-Semites especially in the Islamist world.

Corbyn was already cooing on TV this morning as he gets a boost to his otherwise failing leadership.  Praising his new acolyte who survived against the odds despite the racism demonstrated in her social social media likes he avoided answering a question about a second referendum by waffling on about  general election that the Tories are not going to risk at this stage.

It's total hypocrisy that his supporters who have spent the last few years trying to enforce their views on reluctant MP's in the name of "democratic accountability" and want a second referendum are not demanding the same from Corbyn. It shows the left is not as democratic as it claims to be not that anyone outside their rarefied circles ever believed that.

The ability of the Labour Party machine to throw so many activists into the maelstrom is something they will not be able to repeat at the next general election. It also has to be said that the large local Muslim community also rallied to Labour's cause. 

I shed no tears over the defeat of Nigel Farage who stormed out of the count when he realised he lost . The one-issue Brexit Party has no organisation on the ground and couldn't match Labour's ability to deliver voters on the doorstep.

The Tories were down (mainly due to the Brexit Party) but were not out coming third. The two main Remain parties returned to their normal positions lower down the feeding order. This was not natural territory for either "remainers" or the Liberal Democrats.

The Renew Party which I backed yesterday polled appallingly with a mere 45 votes. The window of opportunity for a new party including Change UK did not exist in Peterborough and is a lesson that the organisation must take note of if it is to survive in the coming months.