DEANO What does Gaza have to do with our elections?

IT was perhaps one of the sweeter victories for Labour as the Tories were demolished in the local elections earlier this month.

The election for the post of West Midlands mayor was incredibly close.

Incumbent mayor, Tory Andy Street – who had been in the post for seven years – was popular and widely thought to have done a decent job.

There were several recounts but eventually the result came through.

Street was no match for the wave of anti- Tory feeling which has been sweeping the country and Labour’s candidate, Richard Parker, won by just 1,500 votes.

You would have thought that, with the result being such a narrow squeak, Mr Parker would immediately go balls- in, fighting for the people of West Midlands. A laser focus on his patch?

Er, no.

One of Parker’s first public pronouncements was on the Gaza War and the – at the time – imminent attack on the Palestinian city of Rafah by Israel.

He tweeted: “The situation in Rafah is very worrying. An Israeli offensive must not go ahead. There must be an end to the loss of innocent lives.

“There should immediately be a ceasefire, the release of hostages and aid should be allowed into Gaza.”

I looked it up. Rafah is little over 2,300 miles from Birmingham Bull Ring.

And while Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu may have weighed the words of the West Midlands Mayor, he sent the Israel Defence Force tanks in anyway.

It was not just in the Midlands that the Gaza War played a part in local elections in Britain.

A man called Mothin Ali was elected to Leeds city council on the Green Party ticket.

In his victory speech he announced “this is a win for the people of Gaza”.

Maybe news to the people of the Gipton and Harehills ward who elected Alin and might have expected him to be fighting their corner.

Across the Pennines in Oldham, in a rare defeat for Keir Starmer, Labour lost control of the local council because the parliamentary party had not been sufficiently anti- Israel.

This is where we are at.

A war more than 2,000 miles away is having an effect on who is elected to empty the bins in Britain.

Labour cannot ignore this.

If they want to win in places like Bradford and Oldham and the West Midlands, they’ll have to tailor their message.

Hard- won rights for women and for gay people – for example – may take a second place to anti- Jewish posturing.

Attempts to tackle the migration crisis will be harder if the Labour benches contain members whose constituents are very much against lower immigration.

As Richard Parker’s Gaza statement showed, the immigrant tail has started to wag the Labour dog.

And with Starmer getting the keys for Number 10 later this year, there may be – as the song says – trouble ahead… email: simon@sundaysport.co.uk