2016: a year so bad it’s become an adjective. A much-loved celebrity dies; a coup happens somewhere; an unhinged demagogue wins the US presidency: the response, invariably, has been, “Oh, how 2016!” If you are British and of a vaguely progressive bent, there have been two major exceptions this year. The first was Zac Goldsmith being thumped in the London mayoral elections. And now the second. Zac Goldsmith losing a vanity byelection in his own constituency.

Richmond Park marks the start of a new, cross-party rejection of Brexit | Hugo Dixon Read more

No mercy for this loser. Goldsmith is a multimillionaire chancer who attempted to seize the London mayoralty with a shameful and shamelessly racist campaign. He knew exactly what he was doing. He attempted to defeat his opponent by smearing him as the pawn of Islamist extremists. “I don’t think it was a dog whistle because you can’t hear a dog whistle,” as senior London Tory Andrew Boff put it. “Everybody could hear this.”

At a time when prejudice against Muslims is widespread, this was not simply reckless, it was dangerous. It would have legitimised bigotry. If one of the most diverse cities on Earth elected such an individual after such a campaign, a powerful – and alarming – message would have been sent.

There is a longstanding tradition in this country of rich white men doing terrible things but then being swiftly rehabilitated. Just months after his unforgivable campaign, you could already see this creep to respectability happening with Goldsmith, a man who repeatedly refused to apologise for what he had done. The government’s decision in favour of a third Heathrow runway led him to resign both from the Tories and from his seat. “Ah bravo, man of principle,” came the line. It was nonsense.

A man of such riches could afford a byelection without the resources of his party. The Conservatives stood aside for him, making a mockery of the idea he was an independent. He claimed to be the anti-Heathrow candidate, but all of his main opponents were too. This was no referendum on Heathrow, as he claimed. In this vanity byelection, it was a referendum on two things: the Tories’ Brexit agenda and Goldsmith himself. And the good people of Richmond Park made their opinion on both issues clear, overturning a huge 23,015-vote majority.

Goldsmith’s defeat has consequences. It inflicts damage on Theresa May, who indulged his vanity. It is a blow to her chaotic approach to Brexit. It may make an early general election – which could only realistically be disastrous for Labour – less likely as nervous Tory MPs in the south-west eye a Lib Dem resurgence that could turf them out. Or it could, counterintuitively, make an early election more likely as the government’s majority is whittled away.

Labour needs to learn lessons too. There were fewer votes for the candidate than there are members in the constituency

Labour needs to learn lessons, too. There were fewer votes for the Labour candidate than there are Labour members in the constituency: understandable, given tactical voting. But Labour has to ensure its voice does not disappear in the Brexit debate.

But consequences aside, rejoice. Why not? It has been an astonishingly terrible year, one in which xenophobic populism has stomped all over the western world, where much-loved greats have died, where you almost dreaded to check the news. Goldsmith’s defeat is testament to human decency. He had a choice about how he ran his mayoral campaign. He chose to wage a dangerous campaign of bigotry. And now he has lost twice, his political career is over, and his reputation is trashed. Good riddance.