Labour’s Jewish by-election candidate celebrates victory with Israeli-born husband

Victorious Jewish candidate Damien Egan has celebrated winning the Kingswood by-election in South Gloucestershire for Labour by paying tribute to his Israeli-born husband Yossi Felberbaum.

Egan overcame a Tory majority of more than 11,000 to win the seat, and used his speech on the platform to openly praise his husband for supporting him through the election campaign.

The pair were then photographed hugging as they celebrated the first of two significant by-election wins for Labour on Thursday night, with the party also winning in Wellingborough,  where the 28.5% swing was the second biggest from the Tories to Labour in any post-war by-election.

The win in Kingswood though came at the end of a testing week for leader Keir Starmer as antisemitism allegations re-emerged and Labour were forced to withdraw support for their candidate in the forthcoming Rochdale by-election.

A second candidate, the former MP Graham Jones, was also suspended over comments he made on British Jews and Israel.

But there seemed little sign that the crisis had impacted on the party’s performance in the two by-elections.Raised a Catholic, victorious Egan’s Wikipedia page confirms he converted to Judaism, following his husband’s faith.

Jewish News understands that Fleberbaum was born and raised in Kiryat Yam, near to Haifa.

He graduated from Ben-Gurian University and has a degree in Software Engineering and a masters in Computer Science.

After Egan’s victory the Jewish Labour Movement posted their congratulations on social media offering “a massive mazal tov to our member Damien Egan” along with further praise for Gen Kitchen, a former London councillor who works in the charity sector and grew up in Northamptonshire, who secured a comfortable majority of 6,436 in the Wellingborough seat.

The 28.5% swing there was the second biggest from the Tories to Labour in any post-war by-election.

Redbridge Labour councillor Lloyd Duddridge, a key figure organising activists during election campaigns, also tweeted:” We changed the Labour Party so we could change the country.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the country was “crying out for change”, telling BBC Breakfast his party was “a different party” to what it had been in 2019.

He said voters “can see that we’ve got the answers to their problems.”But he added: “I would say this particularly to my team, there is more work to do. There is always more work to do.”

He said he had told them to “fight like we’re five points behind”.Starmer said Labour were “credible contenders” for the general election, but “that is all we are.”

The results mean the Tories have suffered 10 by-election losses in this parliament, more than any other government since the 1960s.