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Rochdale by-election

Martin Forde KC was commissioned by Keir Starmer to investigate allegations of bullying, racism and sexism within the party’s ranks after a leaked Labour document made explosive allegations about its handling of antisemitism claims.

Forde has said the party’s change in position in response to Ali’s “very inflammatory” and “clearly antisemitic” remarks “appears shambolic”.

“It seems to me that the moment that anyone says that the Israeli authorities allowed the atrocities to occur, that has to bring their judgment into question,” Forde told BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme.

“One does have to question how such individuals are selected in the first place and also the disparity in treatment because one of the things that concerned us when we talked about weaponisation was certainly the perception that antisemitism was along factional lines.”

When asked if Labour should have withdrawn support Ali at the point the comments first surfaced in the Mail on Sunday, Forde said: “That to me would be the sensible thing to do.”
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www.theguardian.com

Labour handling of Azhar Ali ‘shambolic’, says antisemitism report author

Martin Forde says storm over Rochdale byelection candidate raises new questions over ‘disparity in treatment’ of Labour MPs
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Proper shitshow.
 
Something I could never imagine writing, ever: the least worst outcome is now probably Galloway winning. :eek: Makes it a kind of referendum on both Labour and the government's policy on genocide. The downside, of course is that massive opportunistic twat extends his career.
 
The Conservative party's "factions" all agree in certain basic things; the "factions" in the Labour Party do not. The dividing line politically is not between the Conservative and Labour Parties, but within the Labour Party.
 
Wilf said:
Something I could never imagine writing, ever: the least worst outcome is now probably Galloway winning. :eek: Makes it a kind of referendum on both Labour and the government's policy on genocide. The downside, of course is that massive opportunistic twat extends his career.
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Why would you not support the Labour candidate?
 
Kaka Tim said:
Interesting that nobody else at this constituency meeting noticed his dodgey statements and alerted the labour high command back in october - when it would have been a LOT easier to fuck him off and stop him being the candidate.
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I agree, Labour North West is hardly a hot bed of dissent and is more likely to be generally Starmer loyal than Starmer out with the party municipal machine influential and connected.

It is not clear to me what the status of this meeting was tbh. It could have been an ad-hoc meeting of Labour councillors from all over Lancashire about the Israel/Palestine issue rather than a formal meeting?. I think the letter mentioned in the link probably came as a result of that meeting.


Azhar Ali was clearly seen as being 'on the right side' within Labour until he was declared on the wrong side so perhaps his attendance at the meeting was actually to control/manage the critics rather than inflame them?
 
PTK said:
Why would you not support the Labour candidate?
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Well, there isn't one really. Galloway winning would be a multi spectrum horror, certainly, but just about the only ant-genocide vote.

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from thinking Galloway's posturing and self interest is a good form of politics or even way of pursuing the Palestinian cause. It's just that Labour have fucked this up so much that he's the least worst option. In other words, that's how much of a fuck up Labour have created.
 
No point voting for Azhar Ali as a protest against genocide / Starmer when Galloway has all the momentum. Hate to say it but if I was in the constituency I'd be forgetting everything know about George and embracing the political opportunity that him winning provides in terms of giving Labour a gigantic bloody nose.
 
Wilf said:
Something I could never imagine writing, ever: the least worst outcome is now probably Galloway winning. :eek: Makes it a kind of referendum on both Labour and the government's policy on genocide. The downside, of course is that massive opportunistic twat extends his career.
Click to expand...

I can think of less worse outcomes.
like if one of the several now independent candidates won on a promise to not take up the seat so there's another bye election.
(galloway loses his deposit both times)
 
Cerv said:
I can think of less worse outcomes.
like if one of the several now independent candidates won on a promise to not take up the seat so there's another bye election.
(galloway loses his deposit both times)
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it's not a realistic outcome though is it?

The realistic ones at this point, are Galloway victory, Labour scrapes through by the skin of their teeth, or either Reform just pips it thanks to a divided Labour vote. By far and away the worst outcome is Danczuk winning, though doesn't seem likely at the moment.
 
PR1Berske said:
Those Rochdale candidates include:

1. Disowned Labour candidate who voiced conspiracy theory about the current Israel conflict (amongst, apparently, other discretions)
2. Former Labour/Respect MP with a curious relationship with the Arab world, the Islamic faith, and byelections
3. Former Labour MP who sent inappropriate messages to a 17-year old girl
4. A Green candidate with a social media history of dubious opinions about the current Israeli conflict
5. An anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist connected to the far
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If you were forced at pistol point to vote for one who would it be? Gorgeous George for me.
 
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As things stand, I can't quite see how any party gets enough votes to win. Galloway is bound to make significant inroads into the Muslim/Pakistani origin electorate, though a number will remain Labour. He will struggle with votes in areas outside the centre of Rochdale that are more white or, in some areas, more middle class (LIttleborough, mentioned in the link above). The Ali/Not Labour vote is bound to collapse after the post-nomination deselection/omni-binfire approach Labour has taken. How much that collapse becomes a public strategy or whether people still just 'vote Labour' will probably be the issue. I just can't see people defecting to the Tories or Liberals. Pre-Smith, people would have reverted to the Libs, but not now.

Another issue is whether Ali goes for broke and actually campaigns as an independent. Almost certainly won't as he'll dream of being voted in and sneaking back as a Labour MP in 6 months.
 
Wilf said:
What will tomorrow's line be on this? 'This shows how serious Keir Starmer is about rooting out... how he puts what is right before party interest....'. Some poor sod is going to have to do the rounds parroting this shit. Though of course anyone willing to parrot Starmer on anything is a fucking spineless grub. In fact biologists have now shifted Labour from the mammals group to the invertebrates. What absolute fucking scum they are.
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www.theguardian.com

Starmer insists he took ‘tough’ action to withdraw support from Rochdale candidate

Labour leader says he acted swiftly after further information about alleged antisemitic comments by Azhar Ali
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
PTK said:
The Labour Candidate in Rochdale, Azhar Ali, wrote: "I apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community for my comments which were deeply offensive, ignorant, and false.”

Now, according to the guidelines on the definition of antisemitism adopted by the Labour Party, it is antisemitic to hold Jews “collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel”.

In apologising to the local Jewish community, Ali is saying that an unfounded criticism of the actions of the State of Israel is also an unfounded criticism of the local Jewish community. Ali is in effect holding them responsible for the actions of the State of Israel. Ali’s apology, which is approved by the Leadership of the Labour Party and others, is, according to the Labour Party guidelines, antisemitic.
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It's the perfect Starmerite fuck-up.

I detest Galloway. The way he has leapt on the back of the pro-Palestinian marches is disgusting. But it would be funny if he were elected. Perfectly encapsulating Starmerism to contrive to lose a safe seat to a loon.
 
PTK said:
I, of course, was referring to the now ex-Labour candidate. Would not a vote for Azhar Ali be a vote against Starmer's anti-Palestinian policies?
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Anyone who flip flopped like that doesn’t deserve a vote. The apology which he gave was fucking ridiculous. He should have explained a bit and doubled down. He would not have been right but it’s politics.
 
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Wilf said:
What will tomorrow's line be on this? 'This shows how serious Keir Starmer is about rooting out... how he puts what is right before party interest....'. Some poor sod is going to have to do the rounds parroting this shit. Though of course anyone willing to parrot Starmer on anything is a fucking spineless grub. In fact biologists have now shifted Labour from the mammals group to the invertebrates. What absolute fucking scum they are.
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(((invertebrates)))

Octopuses can be quite plucky.
 
Some Labour voters will switch to LD, some loons will switch to Danczuk, the small section of the electorate which believes that middle eastern politics is key to the future of Rochdale is split anyway between Galloway and Ali, a majority of voters in a safe Labour seat in a low-turnout election will go for the bloke with the Labour logo next to his name on the ballot paper, which is Ali. Galloway has zero chance and Ali will sit for a few months then be replaced come the general election.

It’s a storm in a teacup.
 
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