Tony Diver Political Editor. Genevieve Holl-Allen Political Correspondent
Thursday September 3, 2026
Sagal Abdi-Wali, who leads Camden council, is favoured Labour candidate for Holborn and St Pancras
Sagal Abdi-Wali could replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras
Labour’s front-runner to take on Zack Polanski at the by-election in Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency is a Somali former child refugee, The Telegraph understands.
Sagal Abdi-Wali, who runs Camden council and was previously chairman of Sir Keir’s Constituency Labour Party, is understood to be considering a run for Parliament after the former prime minister announced he would stand down.
She was appointed leader of Camden council after the local elections on May 7, when she pledged to “work day and night to fight for social justice and to deliver meaningful change”.
Ms Abdi-Wali has spoken of her experiences when her family moved to London in the early 1990s to escape civil war and famine.
In 2019, she wrote on the LabourList website: “Camden has been my home since I moved here with my family as a child refugee, fleeing war-torn Somalia.
“This new home is where I was raised and educated; it’s where I now work for the council and volunteer for local community groups and charities.
“It is an area steeped in close community values, progressivism and inclusion, all of which have shaped who I am and the socialist principles by which I stand.”
Senior Labour sources told The Telegraph that the Holborn and St Pancras seat was likely to be fiercely contested, with several high-profile potential candidates.
A London Greens source told The Telegraph the party would “go in hard” and anticipated there would be activists bused in “from all over the country” to help campaign.
They said the campaign messaging would probably focus on the costs of living and housing, and the party would treat the contest as it did the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
Hannah Spencer became the Green Party’s fifth MP then, seizing the seat from Labour after former MP Andrew Gwynne resigned.
The Greens won 10 councillors in the Camden area in May, significantly denting Labour, but did not take the council.
Sir Keir stood down from Parliament on Tuesday, telling the Camden New Journal the “time is right” to “pass the baton” to a new MP. His announcement came as Andy Burnham made his first speech in the Commons as Prime Minister.
‘Referendum on Rip-off Britain’
Ms Abdi-Wali has previously talked about her connections to senior Labour figures in London, including Georgia Gould, an education minister.
In an interview earlier this year with Steve Reed, a Starmer ally and former cabinet minister, she said she was attracted to politics because of her interest in “the environment, the climate and the change around us politically”.
Green Party insiders have said Mr Polanski is seriously considering running for the seat. In 2015, he stood unsuccessfully in the constituency to be a Liberal Democrat councillor.
In a statement on Wednesday marking the anniversary of his election as leader of the Greens, Mr Polanski declared the contest would be “a referendum on ending Rip-off Britain”.
In remarks prompting further speculation that he would run, he said: “I am proud of what I have achieved in the first year of my leadership of the Green Party but it is just the start. I am very excited for the next chapter for myself, for the Greens and for people across the country.”
However leaked WhatsApp messages seen by The Times reveal some activists are pushing for the party to select a British-Palestinian candidate for the role or co-operate with Andrew Feinstein, an independent pro-Gaza candidate who came second to Sir Keir at the general election.
Matt Barker, a former Green council candidate in Lewisham, asked two people in the “Greens for Palestine” public chat group whether they would consider seeking the nomination. He wrote: “Would either of you, as British Palestinians, consider standing in Holborn & St Pancras? I’d love to help elect a Green Palestinian.”
Another member of the group said: “I can’t help but feel that a Palestinian candidate that challenges Labour hard, even beats them, in Starmer’s old seat would be epic.”
Another wrote of Feinstein: “Greens should co-operate with him to win against [the Labour Party] candidate. Greens won’t win there.”
He said Sir Keir’s time in office was “not a legacy to be proud of, it is a legacy of shame” and claimed the Greens were the only party that could “draw a line under” it.
The Telegraph understands that the Greens will select a candidate by the end of next week, following the typical local selection process. Mr Polanski said in April he would “almost certainly” run in a by-election in London, and cited Holborn and St Pancras as an option.
However, the Green Party’s popularity has fallen sharply in recent months, and the north London constituency is seen as a safe Labour seat.
