All to play for in Thatcher's seat where Gaza casts cloud for Labour

Jitendra Joshi talks to the candidates fighting it out in Finchley and Golders Green

- Jitendra Joshi

FINCHLEY and Golders Green, Margaret Thatcher's old patch, offers the ultimate test of whether voters accept Sir Keir Starmer's case that Labour has changed.

After the antisemitism toxicity of the Jeremy Corbyn years, its candidate Sarah Sackman insists that the party has now reverted to being a "safe space" for Jewish voters, who represent 21 per cent of the electorate here, the highest proportion of any constituency.

A collapse in Jewish support pushed Labour into a humiliating third place in 2019. But Ms Sackman is locked in a close fight against Conservative candidate Alex Deane, even if the war in Gaza casts a potential cloud.