Newham: Lessons from Batley & Spen
A Labour MP brutally murdered by a right-wing extremist and her sister stands for her seat; it should have been a shoe in for Labour as they sought to capitalise on the sympathy vote. In 2019, at the general election Labour was returned with a healthy 3500 vote majority and some 42% of the vote.
In 2021 they got 35% of the vote and scraped in past the Tories with a majority of 300.
This wasn’t Hartlepool, though some of the same factors recurred. The big change this time was the appearance of the serial-candidate George Galloway.
Since leaving the Labour Party (not of his own volition), Mr Galloway has headed three parties Respect, (now defunct); All 4 Unity (in Scotland); and currently The Workers’ Party. Widely regarded as an unreconstructed Tankie (i.e. Stalinist) Mr Galloway has stood for election in
Bethnal Green & Bow where he won in 2005 and remained until 2010.
Bradford West 2012-2015.(One Newham councillor has reflected on Galloway’s effect on the collapse of Respect in Bradford.)
London Mayoralty 2016 standing for Respect. Here he lost; in what must have been something of a humiliation he came in seventh, with only 1.4% of the vote.
Manchester Gorton 2017. Lost
West Bromwich East 2019. Lost
Batley & Spen. Lost, but came a respectable third taking some 8,264 ballots and 21% of the vote.
So why should this worry the burgesses of Newham? Simply because Galloway will now be looking for a new stage on which to perform. It seems that he has little interest in constituency politics. The same Newham commentator has reflected on Galloway’s “egotism, megalomania and laziness” as a cause of his lack of interest in constituency representation. Since leaving the Labour Party he has only represented constituencies for a single term.
Two (ok, three if you’re picky) things appear to motivate him:
Money and Notoriety; how else does one explain his appearance on both RT and Big Brother (purr, purr)?
and
Anti-western Arab politics, primarily with regard to the Palestinians. This serves as a vehicle by which he mobilises support amongst the South-Asian Muslim communities of the UK. His recent electoral success has been in constituencies with a large South Asian vote. In Batley and Spen, the reports suggest that his vote came primarily from the Muslin community. When he was humiliated in London his opponent was a Muslim, suggesting at least the possibility that left-leaning Muslims preferred to vote for a Muslim.
With around 35% of the Newham population being Muslims, this has got to be a target for the future. He has been here before, and campaigning for the Markaz, and here with ‘Tory’ extremist and ‘firebrand’, Mufti Shah Sadruddin and the mayor’s new champion for Council-Muslim relations, Mufti Umair Zulfiqar .
Following the Iraq invasion of 2003 Labour lost three seats to Respect and they took 23% of the vote. Should Galloway decide to throw his hat into the Newham ring it will certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons. The exclusive connection between Newham Council and the Muslim community in the shape of the Newham Muslim Forum will be tested. Although some of the leadership of the Newham People’s Alliance have now joined the Labour Party, their commitment to its founding principles is questionable, as is their commitment to the party.
