Starmer Is Leaving the Commons. Holborn Goes to a By-Election

That is the news posted on 1 September by @RupertLowe10. The BBC, the Standard, the Guardian and the Independent confirm the same fact: the former prime minister, who left Downing Street in July, is standing down from the seat he has held since 2015.

He told the Camden New Journal it had been a huge honour to represent the constituency for eleven years. He had previously said he would stay until the next general election, due in 2029. In a statement carried by the Independent he said that over the summer he had reflected, and that now was the right time to step down and hand the baton to a successor. He would focus on international affairs, including defence, security, trade and technology, and on combating violence against women and girls.

A date is not set until he formally leaves. The BBC notes that will be confirmed once the government has given him a crown appointment, the mechanism that disqualifies him from being an MP. Labour opened candidate applications on 1 September, closing at noon on 4 September, with a selection after hustings on 9 September. The Greens have hinted that Zack Polanski may run.

Lowe’s post is political colour around that fact. Restore Britain will stand, he writes, in a seat so changed by mass immigration that it cannot be won by a party promising to deport millions. The contest, he says, will be between Labour and the Greens or some leftist candidate. That is his reading. The papers call Holborn a Labour stronghold; Starmer’s 2024 majority was more than 11,000. Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake called the move another U-turn and a costly by-election.

The Commons seat is being vacated. The writ has not yet been moved. The rest is a fight that has not been counted.