Yesterday's Bradford West by-election was supposed to be a straightforward hold for Labour. They had held the seat comfortably for a long time and with their nearet rivals suffering a post-budget, alleged fuel crisis slump in the polls, surely nothing could go wrong.
It was also meant to be a last hurrah for Respect/the George Galloway vanity project. They had been suffering a decline in the polls almost as bad as the BNP's and were facing being wiped off Birmingham city council this May and reduced to a couple of councillors in Tower Hamlets (where local politics is decidedly "odd").
The voters of Bradford didn't read the script however and Galloway took the seat with a massive 10,000 vote majority and a 36.6% swing since the General election (the second largest post-war swing, topped only by Simon Hughes win in Bermondsey). It's also the first time in over a decade that the main opposition party have lost a seat in a by-election.
Normally, I quite enjoy seeing the big parties come a cropper and seeing safe seats fall. Normally it restores my faith in democracy, but I find it difficult to see this as a good thing. Here are my reasons:
- George Galloway is an egotistical demagogue who spent most of his last stint as an MP shamelessly promoting George Galloway away from the Commons rather than doing his job in it. (I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone of his Big Brother antics.
- I understand that he spent most of his victory speech last night, as he did in 2005, shamelessly attacking all and sundry and implying some sort of conspiracy to stop him getting elected. (In truth, if there had been anything dodgy about this election I rather suspect it would have worked in his favour rather than against him).
- Respect are not some cuddly anti-war party. They play on the worst kind of sectional interests and stir things up in order to get votes and power in the muslim community. In some ways, they stoke the same fires as the BNP. (I also wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of backlash boost for the far-right in response to this result). This is not a result which aids a harmonious Britain for either muslim or non-muslim.
That said, although it's a disastrous result for Labour and scarcely better for anyone else it is a one-off and its wider political implications can be easily over-stated. And hopefully the voters of Bradford will take the opportunity to kick George out again at the earliest opportunity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment