When Kim Leadbeater won the Batley & Spen by-election back in July, George Galloway insisted he wouldn’t go quietly into the night. Having taken in over 22% of the vote share, the Workers Party of Britain promised to contest the result in the courts, claiming “it ain’t over till it’s over”, and warning that they “may be back in August doing this all over again”. It’s now the last day of August, and Galloway still isn’t wandering around the Commons…
Galloway has missed the initial 21-day deadline to challenge the result through the Election Petitions Office, although exceptions can be made provided there is evidence of “corrupt or illegal practices“, including bribery. A spokesperson tells Guido:
“We’ve been busy working our way through Labour’s expenditure return. The notion that the Tories spent more than Labour in this by-election will seem ludicrous to anybody who was in Batley at the time. There are a number of irregularities which we are working through with counsel, and will be able to provide a fuller update in due course.”
Unfortunately for Galloway he can no longer turn his attention to the possibility of a Polar & Limehouse by-election any time soon …
Starmer’s hired one of Blair’s former spinners and it shows. He’s already recycling Blair’s lines…
This morning, despite losing 7.5% of the vote share, Labour’s Leadbeater narrowly clung to the Batley & Spen seat with a majority of just 323. The vote share swung towards the Tories by 2.9%, which wasn’t enough to turn the tide…
Batley & Spen has been a Labour seat since 1997, and it’s significant that Tory candidate Ryan Stephenson even got a look in. However, Conservative MPs had been quietly confident, claiming for the last week that Ryan was a shoo in. Government ministers and members of the commentariat have been quick to speculate why Ryan Stephenson failed to snatch the seat. Guido has collated the excuses. Amanda Milling, government minister on this morning’s media round, was quick defend the loss. Arguing with LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Milling claimed “it was disappointing but actually we didn’t lose, we just didn’t win”. No, the Tories lost the election.
Bad news for TrotsApp: Leadbeater won the Batley & Spen by-election. Having spent the last few weeks hoping a Labour loss would end Starmer’s leadership and enable a far-left takeover, the socialist crew are now cheering through gritted teeth at the result – all the while keen to remind Sir Keir it only proves he needs their “radical domestic policies” to survive, and pretending they aren’t furious they can’t replace him with John McDonnell.
- Owen Jones claimed this morning that “a possible electoral disaster is a certainty” if Starmer continues to pursue “more factional warfare”. In other words, if Starmer continues to try and distance himself from the Corbyn golden years.
- Aaron Bastani insisted Labour won by “keeping Starmer at safe distance“, and retweeted the astute analysis of Michael Walker (fellow Novara intellectual), who speculated whether Starmer “would come up with some ideas for once, or just intensify factional war against the left.” Because McDonnell / Rayner / Dawn Butler would be great unifiers…
- Ash Sarkar spent the morning calling Dan Hodges an “idiot pundit” and promoting her new book.
Angela Rayner, meanwhile, has tweeted to congratulate Kim Leadbeater “and the whole Labour team“. Oozing conviction…
Despite a fairly remarkable vote share of 22%, George Galloway has told supporters he won’t be taking the defeat lying down. He argues claims of him “laughing on the other side of the road” while Kim Leadbeater was being harrassed by Muslim activists were wrong and defamatory. He cited former Labour MP Phil Woolas who lost his seat in 2011 after posting false information about his LibDem opponent on leaflets. Woolas was also accused of “inflaming racial tensions”…
“On multiple grounds, we will apply to the courts for this election result to be set aside”.
This is now the sixth legal fight Galloway has promised…
Guido also enjoyed Galloway saying he’s no longer willing to talk to the mainstream media because they repeated the false accusation. A statement of intent that was broadcast on Sky News…
