Last Friday morning, Tracy Brabin stood on a Huddersfield stage and heard herself declared the Labour MP for Batley and Spen. The by-election result was a foregone conclusion, with other major parties standing aside out of respect for Tracy’s predecessor, Jo Cox, killed in cold blood as she served her constituency.

What no one had predicted was the taint of hatred. As Brabin vowed to honour Cox’s legacy, supporters of two vanquished far-Right candidates began to jeer. “It was so disappointing, but I was in a bubble. I just wanted to do justice to my team, and to Jo, by getting through the speech. When I mentioned Jo’s name, they heckled over that, and I just thought how unkind they were.”

We meet shortly afterwards for Brabin’s first interview as an MP, on the day she is preparing to be sworn in. Flanked by two other women MPs, she walked to the despatch box of the House of Commons at 3.30pm on Monday. There, in the presence of her Parliamentary colleagues, with her family watching from the gallery, she took a Bible in her hand and pledged allegiance to the Queen.