The Shockat Adam interview: 'Why would anybody want to be an MP?'
8 min read
Shockat Adam, the new pro-Gaza Independent MP for Leicester South, talks to Sienna Rodgers about how he unseated a top Labour politician and what he plans to do next
Leicester South’s new MP speaks so softly that he is almost at a whisper throughout his interview with The House. He admits to having “never been on social media before” his campaign: “It’s not my personality,” the quiet MP explains.
Considering just how difficult it is to win a constituency as an Independent, Shockat Adam’s victory over senior Labour figure Jonathan Ashworth – widely considered the party’s biggest upset at the general election – seems all the more surprising.
“Why would anybody want to be an MP?” he asks. “It’s a thankless task, in the main. I’m a relatively private person”
Adam is an optometrist who has never been a member of any party. He supported his local Labour candidate in 2019, Claudia Webbe, but was frustrated by his perception that the party decided to “play catch-up” with right-wing narratives on immigration in the wake of Brexit, rather than oppose them.
“There was no tangible, reasonable voice on the traditional left to make a case for those that didn’t have a voice, and that was when I started to feel disenfranchised,” he says. “There was this real xenophobic, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic rhetoric, and nobody from the two main parties was vocalising the concerns of many people on the ground.”
Adam was born in Malawi and brought to Britain aged two by his Indian parents: “We came from the classic India-to-Africa-to-UK migration story.” Growing up, he liked humanities subjects, however – “because of the cliche at the time of Asian parents wanting children to have a vocational degree” – he followed in his brother’s footsteps and studied optometry at UMIST (now the University of Manchester). He has been in that business for 25 years.
While not an activist in the traditional sense, he facilitated public engagement with politics by hosting hustings during elections and ensuring people knew how to access their MP, which meant he was used to getting in touch with Ashworth’s team. One such contact was at the end of October, after the Hamas attack, when he went to see the Labour MP along with 25 to 30 others to convey their anger over the party’s position on Gaza.
“There was this real feeling that we have supported the Labour Party, without question – this is from the constituents all of these years – and yet this issue, which is very close to many people’s hearts, their views were not being reflected by their MP. So, we went to see him.
“I was possibly the last person to speak, and I don’t have very colourful language [compared to] what some other people said: all I asked Jon was to call for a ceasefire. Nothing complicated. Nothing about taking Israel to the international courts, nothing about arms deals. Call for a ceasefire and instant access to uninterrupted humanitarian aid. That statement didn’t come.”
The following month, the SNP put forward a pro-ceasefire amendment, and Ashworth – as a shadow cabinet member – chose not to vote in favour of it. That was the moment Adam decided to challenge him.
“I was encouraged by many people, much to my initial hesitancy, because I’ve got a young family, I’ve got a business, I’m happy with life… But that’s when I decided to enter the field.” His hesitancy seems genuine. “Why would anybody want to be an MP?” he asks. “It’s a thankless task, in the main. I’m a relatively private person.”
Nonetheless, Adam got to work, creating policy, data, finance and legal teams. After a successful fundraising dinner, he had a soft launch in February, picked up more volunteers and began his campaign in earnest.
“I always feel a little bit nervous and slightly uncomfortable talking on behalf of the Palestinians... I’ve never even been to Palestine. What gives me the right?”
While canvassing in Leicester South, his supporters covered areas with “traditionally white working-class, possibly low socio-economics” voters who said one of two things: that they would refuse to vote at all, or that they could not abide either the Tories or Labour. “It was there, in those areas in particular, where I feel that it was won,” he explains.
Ashworth says he was harassed and intimidated during the election campaign. Does Adam accept that? “It’s very difficult, because harassment is a very subjective feeling,” he replies.
At one point, Ashworth was followed around by critics asking him to condemn Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu; the then-MP started videoing the incident himself before taking refuge in a vicarage.
“I feel that was robust questioning. But, as I said initially, if he felt intimidated, that is something that only he can say. If there is any physical, verbal, swearing, threats et cetera, then that would be completely and utterly unacceptable,” Adam says.
“I got robust questioning. I was told to go away because I’m of a certain ethnicity, in no uncertain terms, on certain doors… That doesn’t mean it had anything to do with Jon.”
He was called a “fucking P***” (he mouths these words silently), but does not blame Ashworth for it, he adds. “I’m sure he wouldn’t allow that kind of language to get used. Yet it somehow feels we’re all collectively responsible for everybody in our community.”
Reports have linked Adam to Majid Freeman, whose video of the interaction described above went viral, and who has since appeared in court charged with terror offences. And Adam’s brother, Ismail Patel, is alleged to have “saluted” Hamas for resisting Israel. How does he respond?
“My brother is somebody you would have to speak to and ask the question. He has nothing to do with me, and he can respond quite adequately, and he has done in the past on those statements. So, that’s that. In terms of the Majid Freeman question, he’s been called a key campaigner – he wasn’t even a supporter. He did not canvass for me; he did not campaign for me.”
Since being elected, Adam reports receiving intimidation: a piece of wood was found outside one of his optical practices with “a bullseye drawing” and “the perfect bullet” written on it. He met with police about it and missed a statement on humanitarian aid to Gaza as a result.
The new MP points out he has priorities other than foreign policy, such as opposing the two-child benefit cap, addressing the housing crisis and supporting the NHS. Yet when the Leicester South result was announced, Adam held up a Palestinian keffiyeh and said “this is for Gaza”, so it seems reasonable to ask about his long-term vision for peace in Israel and Palestine.
“First, recognise the state of Palestine,” he says. “Once we recognise the state of Palestine and give them legitimacy, give them voices. I always feel a little bit nervous and slightly uncomfortable talking on behalf of the Palestinians. I’m not Palestinian. I don’t even know that many Palestinians. I’ve never even been to Palestine. What gives me the right? My role is to give them a legitimate voice, then they can decide what would be for their country.”
As for his wider politics, Adam says it would be “fair” to describe them as left-wing. Adam appears to be fairly socially liberal as well as economically left; on LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education, for example, he offers a nuanced answer.
“I mean, look, it’s the law of this land,” he says. “We have to teach our children all forms of relationships. I think the main thing is to take in the considerations of parents as well. As long as there’s engagement between parents and schools, it doesn’t cause any problems.”
So, will Shockat Adam represent a short, sharp shock for Labour? Or can he – and the other Independents elected – repeat the feat? He confirms that he intends to stand again.
“Whether it’s engaging with all parties, forming a party, we don’t know what this is going to look like, but I think this is a really interesting, important, crucial time in our political history,” he says.
While Adam says he is “not at all” working with the seven rebel Labour MPs suspended after the election for voting to axe the two-child benefit cap, he accepts there are “commonalities” between the five MPs – including himself and Jeremy Corbyn – who were elected in Britain as Independents in July.
Asked whether they could form a group in Parliament, he replies with a smile that “all options are open”. After our interview, the five MPs announce they have established the ‘Independent Alliance’, declaring: “Our door is always open to other MPs who believe in a more equal and peaceful world.”
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