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Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali wins Holborn and St Pancras by-election in London

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 7 outlets. No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered it yet.

13 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Smiling woman in white headscarf and pink jacket before purple Camden Elections backdrop.
Image via Al Jazeera EnglishHow images are chosenReport this image

Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali won the Holborn and St Pancras by-election in north London, a seat Keir Starmer resigned in September. Reports say she took 45% of the vote, with the Green Party’s Zack Polanski second on 33%, in a relatively low turnout. The Guardian reported that Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, said the party was starting to win back left-leaning voters. The Financial Times and Sky News described the Greens’ result as a setback for them, and Sky called it the first electoral test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s premiership. Abdi-Wali, a former Camden Council leader, said the borough had given her family a home and that she hoped people who looked like her would see themselves in Parliament.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali won the Holborn and St Pancras by-election in north London.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft3Center2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian, Bloomberg, The New York Times
    Center
    Financial Times, BBC News

  2. Abdi-Wali won 45% of the vote and the Green Party’s Zack Polanski came second.

    Reported byLeft1Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Center
    BBC News

  3. Polanski, who was also the Green Party candidate, took 33% of the vote, according to the Guardian.

    One outletThe Guardian· Left

  4. The by-election was called after Keir Starmer resigned the seat in September.

    One outletThe Guardian· Left

  5. Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, said the party was starting to win back left-leaning voters who had become disillusioned under Keir Starmer.

    One outletThe Guardian· Left

  6. The result was seen as the first electoral test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Starmer’s successor.

    Reported byLeft2Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Al Jazeera English, The New York Times
    Center
    Sky News

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • Whether the result shows Labour winning back voters on the left.

    Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell, as reported by the Guardian, said the party was starting to win back left voters. The Financial Times framed the result as the left-of-Labour vote stagnating and the Greens failing to make sizeable gains.

How each side tells it

Compare views

  • the left

    4 outlets

    Left-leaning headlines lead with Labour beating or holding off the Greens, and the Guardian’s headlines put Abdi-Wali’s personal story and Labour’s recovery among left voters first, while Bloomberg frames the win as a boost for Burnham.

    Labour byelection win Loaded verb“shows”The headline states as settled fact a claim that the party’s deputy leader made and the article attributes to her.More neutral: suggestsDisagree with this highlight? party starting to win back voters on left
    The GuardianLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    3 outlets

    Center headlines frame the result as Labour holding Starmer’s seat and as a setback for the Greens, with Sky News calling it Polanski’s failed gamble and the Burnham honeymoon continuing, and the BBC leading with Abdi-Wali’s victory speech.

    'Deeply personal moment': Watch Sagal Abdi-Wali's by-election victory speech
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    No coverage yet

    No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left2

    oustedshows

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right

    Has not covered this story.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    oustedMore neutral: replaced

    Ousted implies Starmer was forced out, while the rest of the coverage reports that he stepped down and was succeeded by Burnham.

    Starmer announced his decision to step down as an MP in September after being ousted from No 10 by Andy Burnham.

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    showsMore neutral: suggests

    The headline states as settled fact a claim that the party’s deputy leader made and the article attributes to her.

    Labour byelection win shows party starting to win back voters on left

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

4 outlets

Leads with

  • Labour defeating the Greens
  • Abdi-Wali’s personal story
  • Labour winning back left voters
  • Burnham’s early test

Leaves out

  • The Financial Times’ point that the left-of-Labour vote stagnated and the Greens failed to build on their May local results

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 4 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

3 outlets

Leads with

  • Labour holding Starmer’s seat
  • The Greens’ setback
  • Burnham’s honeymoon
  • Abdi-Wali’s victory speech

Leaves out

  • Labour’s claim that it is winning back left-leaning voters, which the Guardian reported

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 3 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

0 outlets

No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    Al Jazeera English, Oct 8, 11:19 AM EDT

  • Center

    10 hr 47 min later

    Its first report, Oct 8, 10:06 PM EDT

  • Right

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 8, 11:19 AM EDT
  2. The GuardianLeftOct 8, 5:22 PM EDT
  3. Financial TimesCenterOct 8, 10:06 PM EDT
  4. BloombergLeftOct 8, 10:10 PM EDT
  5. Sky NewsCenterOct 8, 11:45 PM EDT
  6. The New York TimesLeftOct 9, 1:02 AM EDT
  7. BBC NewsCenterOct 9, 7:15 AM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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