Bradford West by-election - 29th March

[Sibboleth]

In retrospect it would have been better to have stitched the shortlist in favour of Afzal Khan (who is, whatever else can be said of him, certainly a pro), but then there might have been other issues had that happened.

One thing I do wonder is how long Galloway had been planning to run here. Marsha Singh has been seriously ill for some time and there had been rumours of a pending by-election here for at least six months.

[Vasall des Midas]

If he laid the groundwork for this campaign early - and it doesn't sound impossible - then Bradford Labour must be incredible incompetents to not have noticed.

[Sibboleth]

If he laid the groundwork for this campaign early - and it doesn't sound impossible - then Bradford Labour must be incredible incompetents to not have noticed.

Membership patterns in Bradford are certainly quite strange. Bradford South (which shows some of the signs of a well-organised CLP, at least in terms of electoral performance at various levels) has a very low membership, for example.

Or, rather...

Bradford Labour got burned really badly by biradari stuff from the mid 90s until the 2005-2010 parliament. It's possible that a decision was made that a decision was made that Asian members should look after things in Asian areas.

[Sibboleth]

Some random conjecture based on reading some reports and rumours and making two plus two equal about thirty five: it's possible that Hussein lost votes to Galloway at both ends. He seems to have upset younger Muslims through not turning up to certain events and sounding like a tool at others and there are now quite a few rumours of the usual old guys switchings support in the last week; perhaps this happened precisely because he had already bled those other votes? A desire to maintain/create the appearance of communal cohesion?

[Vasall des Midas]

Or even just a willingness to listen to their footsoldiers. Cause that's the thing about informal, clientelist voter organization - it can be a two-way street. A "leader" can't afford going against his followers' opinions beyond a certain point. And he also is a part of the community himself.

I would assume Galloway did get the vote of most of the Tory-voting Muslims of 97 and 01.

[Sibboleth]

That would make sense as well.

[Vasall des Midas]

That would make sense as well.

It's not as if you can draw a clear line between the two, really.

[Vasall des Midas]

All of which kind of brings us back to the question of "doesn't anybody vote in the suburban parts of the constituency", I suppose.

I demand immediate release of all UK general election results by ward.

[Sibboleth]

Yes, it would be useful. It would also be nice to see what the actual patterns of the postal voters were (and that's part of the same demand, in the end).

[Andrea]

In retrospect it would have been better to have stitched the shortlist in favour of Afzal Khan (who is, whatever else can be said of him, certainly a pro), but then there might have been other issues had that happened.

I guess one of the problems in not selecting Imran Hussain would have been a sort of civil war within the CLP by his cheerleaders. Going back to the hustings, I read that during the Q&A someone asked a question implying Hussain was a crap Cllr and was apparently literally shut down by his fans (the ones who gave him a standing ovation after his speech at the selection meeting).

However, they had an internal agitation in Ealing Southall when the national party ensured one of the local factions' leader didn't get the nomination and in the end it paid off.

[Sibboleth]

I guess one of the problems in not selecting Imran Hussain would have been a sort of civil war within the CLP by his cheerleaders.

That's what I meant by 'other issues', yeah. Especially as there had been that sort of trouble in this very constituency before.

[Vasall des Midas]

I guess one of the problems in not selecting Imran Hussain would have been a sort of civil war within the CLP by his cheerleaders.

That's what I meant by 'other issues', yeah. Especially as there had been that sort of trouble in this very constituency before.

Frying pan, meet fire.

[Colbert]

@comrade : dont despise blackburn : one day, the red rose of lancashire will rule the kingdom again

[Sibboleth]

I guess one of the problems in not selecting Imran Hussain would have been a sort of civil war within the CLP by his cheerleaders.

That's what I meant by 'other issues', yeah. Especially as there had been that sort of trouble in this very constituency before.

Frying pan, meet fire.

Well, quite.

Of course now that what's happened has happened... well... if I had my way I'd stick Bradford West CLP under Special Measures and start swinging around with a hammer... er... bad taste in the context of a constituency that includes both Manningham and the suburb in which Sutcliffe lived in, perhaps.

[You kip if you want to...]

Respect have surged all the way to 1% with YouGov btw! Prime Minister Yaqoob and Foreign Secretary Galloway anyone?

[dadge]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I noticed in an interview that Galloway described Yaqoob as a councillor, although she resigned last year. It wasn't clear (to me at least) why she resigned. Is she back being fully active in the party?

[Senator MaxQue]

She resigned for health reasons, if I remember well.

[dadge]

I remember that too, but in politics that's a bit like "family reasons" - it might be something really serious, or it might just be an excuse. With my suspicious mind I wondered if she'd been "got at" in some way. I think she'd still leader of the party, so it would appear that she's locally ill and nationally well...

[Vasall des Midas]

A double role like that is stressful, and it's perfectly rational to lay down one and concentrate on the other. [/thinks of Matthias Platzeck]

[State Comptroller Atkins]

Marsha Singh has died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18875343

RIP.

[Sibboleth]

RIP

Not exactly a surprise, of course. Also, it seems as though the BBC no longer knows what 'majority' means in British political language.