Labour leader, Ed Miliband, recently took himself back to Bradford to ‘listen’, as he had promised to do, to local people. He said he wanted to learn the lessons for Labour’s monumental drubbing at the hands of George Galloway and his ‘Respect Party’. The lessons have of course been writ large for years. Bradford was […]
Posts Tagged ‘Bradford West’
Some by-elections really do change politics
Apr 9th, 2012 by David Osler.It is not every day that Westminster witnesses a sensational by-election victory, driven by an unshakeably anti-imperialist appeal to a minority religious community, but combined with an unfashionably leftwing socialist subtext. No wonder most of the pundits were nonplussed. But when Fermanagh and South Tyrone chose Irish Republican Army hunger striker Bobby Sands as its […]
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Learning from Europe: the future of the British Left
Apr 2nd, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The most important outcome of the Bradford West by-election is undoubtedly the rejection of the 3 main political parties who secured the support of only 40% of the electors. This increasing disaffection with conventional politics, with the Labour-Tory share of the votes down from 97% in the 1951 election to just 65% in 2010, was […]
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On Bradford, anti-imperialist Labourism, social democracy and real Labour values
Apr 1st, 2012 by Andy Newman.George Galloway’s victory in Bradford West for the Respect party is enormously significant. It is important for Labour not to fall for idea of George as a manipulative maverick, because that betrays a patronising contempt for the electorate who chose to vote for George Galloway. So Ed Miliband and Iain McNichol are absolutely right when they say:
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Bradford West: one off or turning point?
Mar 30th, 2012 by David Osler.I am not a supporter of George Galloway. But it would be churlish for even an avowed political opponent not to congratulate him on his by-election success, the sheer scale of which massively exceeded anything that even his own fan base were expecting 24 hours beforehand. What made the win even more astonishing is the […]
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The ‘Bradford Spring’ – a lesson on austerity and war
Mar 30th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.You have to congratulate George Galloway. He may be an opportunist but he has had to bear the losses that inevitably accompany opportunism as well as the joys of victory. Bradford West is an even more spectacular victory than Bethnal Green in 2005 by 823 votes over Oona King, when British troops (not to mention […]
