Sensemaker Daily
Rochdale is about to elect its first non-Labour MP in 15 years. The constituency has three former Labour politicians on the ballot paper for this week’s by-election – but the party has no dog in the race after it suspended its candidate Azhar Ali over comments about Israel.
So what? This is no ordinary by-election. What should have been a straightforward win for Labour in its northern England heartland has turned into a toxic mess that demonstrates:
- the power of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to influence politics 2,000 miles away;
- the depth of feeling in constituencies with large Muslim populations since 7 October; and
- the political advantage to be gained by a hard-left populist ready to harness pro-Palestinian anger.
Curious George. George Galloway, running as an independent, has emerged as the clear favourite. His possible return to the Commons has his prospective colleagues worried, and no wonder. A pro-Soviet fellow traveller who pledged to devote his life to “the Palestinian and Arab cause” nearly 50 years ago, he’s been one of the most divisive figures in British politics ever since.
Galloway is running on an explicitly pro-Gaza platform in a seat where 30 per cent of the population is Muslim. Although he is campaigning on some local issues, such as reinstating maternity services, his leaflets are festooned with the Palestinian flag and describe him as: “Palestine Hero” and “Gaza George”.
His campaign material also claims Keir Starmer’s “pro-Israel” Labour Party and Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are “two cheeks of the same backside”.
It’s working. When Tortoise followed Galloway’s canvassing team in Rochdale this week, it was hard to find a voter not planning to back him. One said Galloway was the only politician giving Palestinians a voice. Another said he was the only person standing against “the genocide”.
Although the team was instructed to remain polite, Galloway’s online presence is pugnacious.
- A clip posted on his Twitter feed refers to “Labour fiends of Israel”, a deliberate misconstruction of the “friends of” group.
- One member of the team acknowledged that the language was unhelpful, but insisted the issue was a valid one.
The alternatives. Along with Galloway and Ali, the third former Labour figure is Simon Danczuk. He was suspended as Labour’s MP for Rochdale in 2015 for sending explicit pictures to a 17 year-old girl and the subject of a death threat this week for, he says, putting “Rochdale first, not Gaza”. A man was later arrested. Danczuk is hoping to return as the first elected parliamentarian for the pro-Brexit Reform party.
The 11-strong all-male list of candidates also includes William Howarth, an abuse survivor standing as an independent to address issues related to Rochdale’s grooming gangs, a scandal uncovered a decade ago.
The Conservatives are nowhere in the race, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak doesn’t even feature in their candidate’s literature. Tory sources said they fear the party will lose its deposit.
Starmer in his sights. It’s not certain Galloway will win on Thursday. But if he does he’ll take his fight against Labour to the Commons with the goal of tormenting it over its handling of the Israel-Hamas war – a war which has exposed deep scars, yet to heal, from Starmer’s efforts to purge his party of anti-semitism.
Ahead of a general election this year, Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain is eyeing other possible seats – including some in the North, Birmingham and east London.
One voter who said he’d never vote for Galloway called him “the nearest thing to a racist that there is.” He said Galloway was “just standing up for Palestine – which is a good thing – but I don’t think he will be good for Rochdale”.
One number: 9,668 – Labour’s Rochdale majority at the last election.
