Keir Starmer’s supine support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza has cost Labour – at least his version of it – the parliamentary seat of Rochdale. Even on a day when TV news was covering the latest Israeli massacre, this time of starving Palestinians mobbing a food convoy, Starmer couldn’t find anything critical to say about Israel; there was none of the outrage felt by most working-class people. His version of Labour was soundly defeated in this by-election, and deservedly so.
In a small turnout typical for a by-election, George Galloway won handsomely. He not only won a majority, but putting up against him all the votes of the Tory, Liberal and (unsupported) ‘Labour’ candidates, he would still have won. Overall, a spokesperson for DeltaPoll, Joe Twyman, told the BBC that the result was a “very bad day for Keir Starmer”.
The Labour candidate ditched by Starmer over antisemitism, Azhar Ali, was relegated to a miserable eight percent, less than two and a half thousand votes. Like many on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was clearly affected by the enormous civilian death toll in Gaza, and that accounts for his stupid and ignorant comments, in a private meeting, which were picked up by the Daily Mail. But if he had fought a campaign around support for the Palestinian population, he might have had a chance. Instead, he tried to apologise and grovel to the Labour leadership, boasting that he was a Starmer loyalist, but this only lost him credibility and votes.
“a very bad day for Keir Starmer” – pollster
David Tully, the local businessman, who came second to Galloway, with over 21% of the vote, fought a campaign that at least tried to address issues that local people faced, including the local hospice and the need to reinstate the maternity ward.
George Galloway made Gaza the central focus in his campaign, in a constituency with a high proportion of Muslim voters. The New Statesman reported that in the run up to polling, “Galloway ran a predominantly pro-Palestinian campaign. His campaign literature and posters plastered all over town were printed in the colours of the Palestinian flag, and he put a lot of work into meetings with local Muslim groups, including private women’s meetings”.
It was, as the New Statesman journalist described, a very emotive issue and there was a clear focus on the failure of the Labour leadership over the plight of Palestinians. “Much of the talk at these events”, it reported, “was about how Labour and the government were failing to call for an immediate ceasefire, neglecting Muslim voters and ignoring the plight of the Palestinians. These events were intense and visceral: there were tearful conversations about the murder of civilians at one I witnessed”.
But younger white voters also voted for Galloway. To some extent, like Tully, he tapped into the problems faced by voters in Rochdale, a town that has been economically depressed for years. It has a shortage of good housing – notoriously the town where a two-year-old died as a result of exposure to mould spores – and few high-end, permanent jobs.
Rochdale poorly served by mainstream politicians
It is a town that has been poorly served by all the politics of the main parties: a Labour council criticised for its failures over the scandal of grooming gangs, an MP, Cyril Smith (Liberal) who was a serial child abuser (but sadly, exposed only after his death) and another MP, Simon Danczuk (Labour), forced to resign after being caught sending inappropriate text messages to a young person.
Danczuk had the cheek to stand again in this election, having switched to the right-wing Reform UK Party, and he got his just desserts with under 2,000 votes. It is arguable that the toxic tradition of Rochdale politics continued in this by-election, with even a Green candidate whose Party withdrew support from him, over alleged islamophobia. There was, noticeably, not a single woman candidate.
Left Horizons is no friend of George Galloway. He is a chancer and an opportunist who is to the right of the political spectrum on some social issues, such as abortion, trans rights and green issues. In the past he has recommended voting for the Brexit Party and even the Tories. His Workers’ Party is anything but; it is only the most recent manifestation of his personal political ambitions.
But on some important issues, he has clearly tapped into a vein of support within the Muslim population and among non-Muslim youth. He was once a Labour MP and was expelled over his stance on Tony Blair’s war on Iraq. On that occasion, he was on the right side of the argument and it was this that subsequently won for him the by-elections against Labour in Bethnal Green and Bradford.
On the single question of Palestine, Galloway is undoubtedly correct. “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he said, as the result was announced, and he was right. “You have paid and you will pay a high price for the role you have played . . . covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine.”
Thousands of votes won by Galloway from outside the Muslim community
Galloway also predicted that his victory in Rochdale would “spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates, in scores of parliamentary constituencies”. That remains to be seen, but it is a result that will bring cheer to supporters of Palestine in the Arab world and elsewhere. One thing that Galloway did say that is very true is that although every Muslim is angry and motivated over the death and destruction in Gaza, “…you would be very foolish [to think] that millions of other citizens aren’t too.” (Financial Times, March 1).
The widespread discontent and anger with Starmer’s inactivity over Gaza was evident in the fact that Galloway won thousands of votes from white voters in the town. Workers of all ethnic traditions were motivated in this by-election by the horrendous social and economic issues that are affecting Rochdale, just as they are equally appalled by the carnage in Gaza. As Galloway was in the past, in this vote he was a lightning rod for all the anger and discontent towards the mainstream parties, not only on Gaza but on all the other issues.
Galloway may only be Rochdale MP for a matter of months, until the next general election. Following his two previous by-election victories, he subsequently lost the seats. But he will be a strident and very articulate champion on behalf of Palestine in the House of Commons in that short time. A lot of supporters of Palestinian rights will be looking forward to Galloway making mincemeat of Keir Starmer in debates on the issue.
Keir Starmer will want this by-election to quickly fade into the background, but he will be severely discomforted by Galloway’s presence in the House of Commons. Labour is riding on a poll lead of around twenty per cent, despite Starmer’s leadership, and his campaign organisers will want to nurse that along to the general election.
The only thing that Starmer has going in his favour is a massive, and still growing, yearning across the population that we need to get rid of the Tories. The Tories may try to win back some ground with tax cuts next week. But even this will not save them – as polls show, most people would rather have more money spent on necessary services, especially the NHS, than a few miserable tax cuts.
But Keir Starmer is capable of throwing away even this huge advantage with his uncompromising support for the Israeli military machine. Former Labour leader, now ‘Lord’ Neil Kinnock, twice snatched defeat from the jaws of certain victory. It is not ruled out, even with a massive opinion poll lead, that Starmer can emulate that, not necessarily leading to a Labour defeat, but to a narrow victory, instead of a massive overall majority.
[Top picture: George Galloway being interview on a pro-Gaza demonstration in 2009. From Wikimedia Commons.]
One point is that Galloway has character, some would say charisma, but it is almost a qualification of being a Blairite to have zero charisma. Look at Starmer himself, Lucy Powell, Lisa Nandy – grey products of a culture of conformity.