Yaqoob in bid to be Labour’s candidate for Midland mayor
Former councillor joins race at 11th hour
OUTSPOKEN political activist Salma Yaqoob has launched an audacious bid to win the Labour candidacy to challenge Andy Street as West Midlands mayor, the Post understands.
Ms Yaqoob, 48, former leader of the Respect Party and an ex-Birmingham city councillor, has decided at the 11th hour to throw her hat into the ring to win the Labour nomination – despite questions over her party credentials.
Subject to confirmation from Labour’s executive that her candidacy meets membership criteria, she will stand against Hodge Hill MP Liam Byrne, thought to be the frontrunner, and union favourite Pete Lowe, from Dudley, in the race to be selected as the party’s official candidate to take on Street next May.
Ms Yaqoob’s political career has been pockmarked with controversy – often, she says, because she is a woman, a Muslim, and outspoken.
She is one of the founders of the Stop the War Coalition, the anti-war campaign which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn chaired for four years.
Her candidacy is likely to renew rivalries within the local Labour movement – she has twice stood against Hall Green MP Roger Godsiff and in 2017 stood as an independent in Bradford, and has rejected previous overtures to join Labour.
She has received death threats from extremist Islamist groups for engaging in Western politics, while simultaneously coming under fire for refusing to stand in honour of a heroic soldier injured in Afghanistan – she later apologised to him and expressed regret about the fierce reaction that followed. She was also criticised for describing the 7/7 London terror attack, which she condemned, as “reprisal events”.
Up till now there has been criticism that the Labour movement in the West Midlands had failed to put forward credible female or BAME candidates for mayor, after potential candidates Neena Gill and Lynda Waltho decided not to stand.
Earlier this week candidate Pete Lowe said it was a “problem” that Labour in the West Midlands had not been able to field a candidate who was not a white male and that, if he was in office, he would surround himself with a team that reflected the region’s diversity.
Ms Yaqoob was unavailable for comment this week, but has spoken at length in the past on racism, Islamaphobia and being a Muslim.
She said: “Every Muslim I know has a story to tell. We are resigned to being blamed and vilified for the actions of any Muslim anywhere in the world.
“No matter how often we denounce the horrible atrocities carried out by some fanatics, we are still associated with them.”
She added: “Sometimes, me being a Muslim - I just wish it was invisible.
“A Muslim does something on the other side of the world and I get kind of wheeled out – ‘What do you think about it?’ – because I happen to wear a headscarf,” she said in an interview with the website High Profiles.
“I have this tussle about it because a part of me is like ‘It’s got nothing to do with me.
“I don’t expect you, as a white man, to understand everything another white man might do’.
“But at the same time I have to deal with the reality of the world right now, that people are genuinely fearful of Muslims – and some of it may be exaggerated and politicians have used it for their own agendas.
“But there are Muslims in the world who are doing terrible things – and as a human being and a citizen anything I can do that allays fears or brings down barriers I see as my responsibility.
“I shouldn’t have to do it, but it has to be done.”