Guido reported in February that Hyndburn PPC Graham Jones was vocal at the infamous Azhar Ali meeting and said, among other things, that Brits who go to fight with the IDF should be “locked up“. Labour suspended him within an hour…
It doesn’t look like that’s kept him away from the Labour fold. After the local elections last week a co-conspirator snapped Jones deep in discussion over successive pints at a Wetherspoons with Labour politicians. Offering a useful perspective from outside the party no doubt…
Jones can be seen in white revolving around the table to chat with newly elected Labour councillors Heather Anderson, Stewart Eaves, Scott Brerton, and Noordad Aziz. Meanwhile, re-elected on Friday was Hyndburn Labour councillor and Labour group leader Munsif Dad, who was present at the infamous meeting and was allegedly “spoken to” by party HQ. “Changed Labour Party”? Where?
George Galloway has run away with the Rochdale by-election and won by over 6,000 votes. In the Labour-held seat Azhar Ali came a distant fourth with 7.7% of the vote. A -44% swing – that’s the biggest drop in support for Labour in a by-election since the war…
Independent local candidate David Tully did surprisingly well to get second place with 21% of the vote, ahead of the Tory Paul Ellison, who Guido hears was on holiday a week before the vote. Reform performed poorly with only 6% of the vote going go Simon Danczuk, who ended up in sixth place.
Galloway targeted Starmer in his victory speech:
“Keir Starmer – this is for Gaza. And you will pay a high price, in enabling, encouraging and covering for, the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza strip.”
The combined uselessness of the two main parties has ensured Galloway – using his time tested tactics – is now back in the House of Commons. It’s a good job community tensions aren’t running high…
Turnout was middle of the pack at 39.7%. MPs are waking up to a new housemate….
The chaos never ends in Rochdale as now it appears Labour councillors continue to support disgraced candidate Azhar Ali. Labour councillor and former Rochdale mayor Aasim Rashid is running a WhatsApp group with pro-Ali content called “Rochdale Pakistan & Kashmir” into which he is adding other Labour councillors. Ali’s campaign line is “Sacked by Starmer for speaking on Palestine”. So much for the sincerity of his “unreserved apology”…
The text, in Urdu, reads:
“IMPORTANT NOTICE
Azhar Ali has been ousted by the Labour Party after speaking for Palestinian people’s rights.
Azhar Ali has decided to stand as an independent candidate for the Palestinians.
Azhar wants to represent the people of Rochdale.“
Guido hears George Galloway’s team is arguing that the councillors are “endorsing the contents” of the messages and therefore should be suspended from the party. A headache Labour would like very much to go away and is ignoring…
The situation is no less chaotic at hustings as one session, supposedly organised by pro-Galloway people, barred Reform’s Simon Danczuk from appearing. The BBC hustings session set for this afternoon has imploded as the Tory candidate is on holiday and the LibDems have now pulled out – that leaves Reform and Galloway, who will face one-to-one questioning instead. Guido hears the Tories tried to put up Bury North MP James Daly for the hustings and were told where to stick it…
UPDATE: Now Rochdale Labour councillor Iram Faisal calls for votes for Ali on Facebook because “The party is the love for socialism… I have never understood how can you give 2.5 billion pounds away for a war that could have been prevented and then put your own country in recession.”
New polling by YouGov for The Times reveals the extent of voters’ mistrust when it comes to Labour and antisemitism. Polling carried out on Wednesday and Thursday this week, after the revelations about Ali and Jones, has only 3% of voters agreeing that Starmer has successfully tackled antisemitism. Just over a quarter think that a good start has even been made…
The polling also reveals only 29% of voters believe Starmer has made his party more fit for government, with 38% saying no difference has been made. 13% say he’s actually made it worse…
Meanwhile Azhar Ali continues to campaign from his car and circulate campaign posters that pit him against “Anti-Palestine Starmer“. Some creative work has been done to turn the Labour leader into a clown. Ali’s message is: “It’s time to teach Starmer a lesson in Rochdale“. Guido predicts Reform’s pitch of “Rochdale not Gaza” will start hitting home…
Ali may not be Labour’s candidate any more, though that might be tricky for Rochdale voters to realise. His name will appear on ballots under the Labour Party and next to the rosette. This morning, Royal Mail delivered thousands of Labour Party leaflets supporting Ali through letterboxes. Ali is all over them along with the proud words: “We’re backing Azhar’s plan“. Maybe Labour should send out clarificatory leaflets telling people not to vote for Ali now that he’s been suspended…
Political parties should make sure they will 100% definitely not suspend their candidate before sending out thousands of campaign leaflets plastered with their face. “Decisive action” was clearly taken to send out the leaflets while defending Ali through the weekend…
Guido can reveal that Graham Jones, the former Member of Parliament for Hyndburn, who is seeking to be re-elected for the seat again, repeatedly referred to “f**king Israel” and even ranted to Azhar Ali at the now infamous Lancashire meeting that Britons who volunteer to fight for the Israeli Defence Forces “should be locked up”. He claimed – falsely – that it was illegal for Brits to fight for Israel. This is untrue.
Many British Jews with dual citizenship have gone to Israel to fight in what is an existential fight for the Jewish homeland and it is entirely wrong to claim they are doing so illegally. Despite Keir Starmer himself saying Israel has a right to self-defence it is a widespread belief in parts of the Labour Party – as per this recording – that like fighting for ISIS terrorists fighting for the IDF is a crime. The claim that it is unlawful is an unfounded smear.
According to Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office):
“The UK recognises the right of British nationals with additional nationalities to serve in the legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationalities. The Israel Defence Force is a recognised armed force and British nationals are both able to volunteer into the Israel Defence Force and eligible for national service. For Israel, one does not have to be Israeli to serve in the Israel Defence Force.”
When Israel was attacked Keir Starmer was firm in that the Labour Party supported Israel’s right to self defence. Can that be credible if one of his candidates is demanding British Jews are locked up for fighting for “f**king Israel”?
UPDATE: Sara Britcliffe Tory MP for Hyndburn tells Guido:
“At a time of increasing community tensions, it is the responsibility of all of us in politics to be careful with the language we use. We need immediate answers from those seeking to represent Hyndburn about whether they challenged Mr Ali. Creating community cohesion is essential and this quite frankly does the complete opposite. This is a clear example that the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer has not changed at all.”
