Batley and Spen by-election.

[Workingman]

Batley is one of eight towns mainly bounded by the M62, A653 and the A644. You can drive from one town to the other and not know you left. The area sits to the south and between Leeds and Bradford and also Wakefield, and they are all connected. The area has a population the size of its nearest neighbour, the city of Wakefield, ~ 370,000.

So, it's small, but is it important.

You bet it is.

It is a swing seat, as are most of the other seven towns, and it is currently Labour held on a majority of about 3,500. It will be a barometer of where we are.

[TheOstrich]

I think that George Galloway's influence will make your barometer look like a compass at the North Pole!

The high Muslim population in Batley, coupled with a lot of scurrilous stirring by Galloway in that community against the Labour candidate, makes it a bit of a one-off, I think.

https://order-order.com/2021/06/23/watc ... -protests/
https://order-order.com/2021/06/22/excl ... eadbeater/

It will be very interesting to see the result ....

[Workingman]

Aye, it's a strange one.

My bet is the Cons by a slim margin. Not because they are wanted, but because all the others are in disarray. Rats in a sack and all that.

[cromwell]

I think that George Galloway's influence will make your barometer look like a compass at the North Pole!

The high Muslim population in Batley, coupled with a lot of scurrilous stirring by Galloway in that community against the Labour candidate, makes it a bit of a one-off, I think.

It will be very interesting to see the result ....

Yes, Galloway is in there stirring it. An opportunist but a good public speaker.
Other complications that shouldn't matter but do are the facts that the Labour candidate Kim Leadbetter came out as a lesbian the other week and the fact that Keir Starmer has a Jewish wife. Things of small importance in most constituencies but in one with a large and very conservative Muslim population? They matter then.

Not least to Keir Starmer, because he's already being plotted against by Labour's left wing. If Labour lose Batley it could be curtains for Starmer,

Received wisdom is that Galloway is taking votes from Labour. We'll see soon enough.

[Workingman]

I see from the latest polls that there is only a handful of points between Cons and Lab but also that Galloway has a near 7% vote and that is damaging Labour.

It is not that he does not support Labour or its core beliefs it is just that he hates Starmer with a vengeance and hopes that if Labour loses Starmer will be forced out. What a strange way to behave - hurt those you claim to support in favour of personal gain.

Some politicians!

[Kaz]

I see from the latest polls that there is only a handful of points between Cons and Lab but also that Galloway has a near 7% vote and that is damaging Labour.

It is not that he does not support Labour or its core beliefs it is just that he hates Starmer with a vengeance and hopes that if Labour loses Starmer will be forced out. What a strange way to behave - hurt those you claim to support in favour of personal gain.

Some politicians!

This!

[TheOstrich]

It seems to be getting rather ugly now:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... sters.html

Galloway has much to answer for.

[Suff]

Galloway was a good friend of my BIL. They met at college when he got out of the merchant navy.

Mrs S says they called him Gorgeous George and he had a remarkable 1:1 speaking quality. Was accused of talking women right out of their clothes....

Galloway will cause trouble till the day they nail the lid down.

[Workingman]

So, Labour hold by just over 300 votes, but Galloway took something near 8,000 votes and most of them will have been from Labour.

It is actually a good result for Labour and takes a lot of pressure off Starmer, quite a lot.

[TheOstrich]

A good result for the country all round, in my book.

Firstly Galloway did not get elected, as happened backalong in Bradford. If he had, it would have been disastrous for community relations and not just in Batley. Both a left-wing and a right-wing surge would have followed.
Secondly, clinging on by a few hundred votes is nothing to crow about, despite Starmer's photo-op today. He still has a long road to walk. I am not drawn to Leadbetter as a personality, but she didn't deserve all the dirty electioneering (not that Labour was entirely innocent itself).
Thirdly, a second bloody nose for the Tories. Good! Yes, the party in power doesn't tend to win bye-elections, but it does increasingly throw Hartlepool up as an aberration, and it will get the Tory MPs further twitching .....