A former Labour MP who hid from pro-Palestinian protesters before losing his seat to an independent candidate at the general election has insisted that multiculturalism in Britain is not failing.

Jonathan Ashworth served in Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet and was tipped for a major role in government until he suffered a shock defeat in Leicester South last July.

Mr Ashworth lost by around 1,000 votes to Shockat Adam, who ran on a pro-Gaza ticket amid a backlash over Sir Keir’s initial refusal to back an immediate ceasefire.

Leicester has a high Muslim population, which accounted for 23.5 per cent of residents as of the last census in 2021.

Mr Ashworth, now the chief executive of the think tank Labour Together, recalled how he had to hide in a vicarage from “screaming” pro-Palestinian protesters while canvassing, and was called “Genocide Jon”.

But asked whether losing his seat to a pro-Palestinian independent should “cause us to question multiculturalism”, he told the Telegraph Politics Newsletter: “No, it absolutely should not.

“I was immensely proud to represent such a wonderfully diverse city, and I’m immensely proud to still live there and send my children to school in an immensely diverse city.”

He went on to note that Leicester celebrates “all our great Christian festivals” as well as Diwali, Vaisakhi, Eid and Hanukkah, while having the first Jain temple in the UK.