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The problems in Rochdale started when the Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, appeared to suggest that the Israeli government allowed the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks to take place, in order to provide the pretext for a full-scale military invasion and bombardment of Gaza. Labour withdrew support for Ali but he remained on the ballot as its candidate. Left-wing maverick George Galloway, a long-time pro-Palestine campaigner and formerly the Respect MP for Bradford West, threw his trademark hat into the ring. Galloway won more votes in Rochdale (12,335) than the combined total for Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform (10,265). Independent candidate David Tully finished in an impressive second place with 6,638 votes.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves reacted to the result by accusing Galloway of stoking division. But while Labour might well accuse their former MP of pandering to ‘problematic’ interest groups in Rochdale, the reality is that voters in the Greater Manchester town liked what they saw of the Workers Party MP. A considerable chunk of voters in Rochdale were Muslim: according to the 2021 Census, three in ten constituent in the town identify as Muslim. In neighbourhoods such as Deeplish and Wardleworth and Newbold Brow, seven in ten residents are Muslims (73 per cent and 70 per cent respectively). But if Galloway singled out such voters during his campaign, he did nothing that Labour itself hasn’t done: its own political activities are hardly motivated by a desire to strengthen British social cohesion. It often indulges in ‘micro-targeting’ (tailoring political communication for different groups within a particular area). I would know, living in Luton my entire life that Labour’s campaigning in Bury Park, an area of the town with a large Muslim population, is very different from its campaigning in Stopsley. Perhaps a serious period of introspection is the better option for Starmer’s party.
Like him or loathe him, Galloway’s appeal is broad. He’s not just liked for his views on Israel and Gaza. Galloway’s campaign machine in Rochdale promoted small businesses which are the lifeblood of those kinds of local communities. Antisocial behaviour is rife and neighbourhood policing has been gutted. In response, Galloway has emphasised a robust law-and-order approach. While the Labour party in recent times has become the political arm of Stonewall, Galloway has defended biological reality in the name of traditional family values. Some of his specific goals on the campaign trail included the reopening of the Maternity and Accident & Emergency departments at Rochdale Infirmary without delay, making the open-air market the heart of the town, and securing the long-term future of Rochdale Association Football Club – a treasured local civic institution which was founded 117 years ago. Galloway is not simply a threat to Labour within ‘Palestine-focused’ Muslim communities: he also has the potential to be competitive when it comes to pro-Brexit, protectionist, white-British working-class voters who are fed up with the socially and economically liberal political establishment.
Understandably Galloway is not everyone’s cuppa, but he has blended bread-and-butter local concerns with wider grievances over Palestine to impressive effect at the ballot box. There is no doubt that Labour needed to make some changes after the disastrous Corbyn experiment, but there has been something of a post-Corbyn ‘over-correction’ which has seen Labour cosying up to ‘big business’ in the middle of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Irrespective of your views on October 7, mass civilian casualties and a major humanitarian disaster are unlikely to be popular with much of the British public – yet some of Starmer’s interviews have amounted to support for Israeli collective punishment of Gaza. To make matters worse, Starmer has largely retained the trans-radicalism of the Corbyn era. Ahead of what should be a perfectly winnable general election, Starmer has needlessly left his party exposed to anti-establishment candidates with solidly traditional views.
Because you read about george galloway
Also by Rakib Ehsan
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