Plot to unseat MPs who didn’t vote for truce
MILLIONS of Muslims are being urged to vote out MPs who did not call for a Gaza ceasefire in a campaign launched by the former leader of a banned terror group, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Muslim Vote is plotting to unseat at least 55 Labour and Tory MPs who voted against or abstained on the Gaza ceasefire vote in Parliament last December.
The campaign is led by pro-Palestinian activist Muhammad Jalal, who styles himself as a ‘writer, political scientist and educator’. His real name is Jalaluddin Patel and he was the UK leader of the now-banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir between 2000 and 2007.
In 2019, analysis by the Muslim Council of Britain revealed that 31 marginal seats could be decided by Muslim votes, which would be enough to swing a close Election.
The Muslim Vote campaign was set up by Mr Patel, 46, who tweeted: ‘In the 2024 Election, we will focus on those MPs in 55 Muslim-populated constituencies that voted against the Gaza ceasefire. We have to show that the Muslim vote should never be ignored again.’
The group plans to organise social media campaigns in target areas to ‘reward’ pro-Palestine MPs and ‘punish’ those who failed to vote for a ceasefire. Salman Butt, who is part of Muslim Vote, said in a YouTube video: ‘This Election is about punishing those who didn’t vote or even call for a ceasefire, and rewarding those who did and took a principled stance.’
But last night Mr Patel claimed he only helped the group with data collection and denied being its leader. He also said he was no longer a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT).
The Gaza conflict has created the biggest crisis in Sir Keir’s leadership. He was widely condemned by Muslim leaders after a radio interview in which he appeared to say Israel had the right to withhold water and power in Gaza.
Tensions boiled over when 56 Labour MPs defied Sir Keir and voted for a ceasefire in Parliament. The vote also led to the resignation of eight of his frontbenchers. Some Conservatives welcome the division within the Labour Party, seeing it as a chance to split the opposition vote. And former Labour MP George Galloway is hoping to attract disaffected Muslim voters by standing in the Rochdale byelection later this month.
Last night Mr Patel said: ‘I am neither affiliated with the Muslim Vote campaign nor an organiser.’
But he added: ‘I certainly value their efforts to hold advocates of genocide to account, and encourage Muslims to constructively engage politically.’
ADINGY used-car auction garage on Crawford Street in Rochdale doesn’t exactly feel like it’s at the epicentre of a game-changing electoral crusade. But then George Galloway has never been your typical political crusader. ‘Bookmakers are telling the story of this by-election,’ he tells me confidently. ‘Last Friday, we were 16-1. Four days later, we were 2-1. Winning here is a real possibility.’
Last time we met was during the Batley And Spen by-election campaign, when similar bravado from the Workers Party of Britain leader was ultimately rewarded with a lacklustre third-place finish.
This time, though, Galloway believes there is an issue that could see the voters of this Greater Manchester mill town carrying him back to Parliament. Or, more specifically, the Muslim voters who make up almost a quarter of the constituency.
‘We did quite well in Batley, with 21 per cent of the vote, but back then there was no genocide going on,’ he says, with a typically inflammatory opinion of the ongoing Israeli combat operation in Gaza.
‘Starmer’s doubled down on his positions, and Labour is in trouble everywhere. There are dozens, if not scores, of constituencies where if once-loyal supporters of Labour en masse desert the party, that will have influence in many, many places. And Rochdale is definitely one.’
When you drive into town you pass under a bridge that proudly proclaims: ‘Rochdale – birthplace of co-operation’, a commemoration of the local workers who founded the first cooperative society. But collaboration
– at least with his former colleagues – appears to be the last thing on the former Labour MP’s mind.
WHEN I put it to Galloway that the Tory Party is delighted by his decision to stand and split Labour’s vote, he replies: ‘That pre-supposes a belief that we think Keir Starmer is the lesser of two evils, in the way people were invited to believe Joe Biden was the lesser of two evils. But we don’t share that perspective. We think Keir Starmer is the greater of two evils.’
Whether or not Rochdale’s electors share that analysis will go a long way to determining the outcome of this contest. And if Labour’s vote splits sufficiently to allow Galloway through the middle, a number of Tory MPs believe Rishi Sunak could be encouraged to call a snap ‘Gaza Election’.
On Tweedale Street, just up from Rochdale Central Mosque, there are signs that schism could indeed be developing.
‘It’s been going OK,’ Adam tells me. ‘We’ve been here since 2.30 and we’ve raised about £50.’
He, his friend Uzar and their small band of youthful volunteers are standing by the traffic lights with buckets gathering donations for Gaza. I explain I’ve met George Galloway, and ask what he thinks about local people voting for him.
‘I think they should,’ he tells me. ‘I’m not massively political, and I don’t know much about Labour and Starmer, but Galloway is the one speaking up for the people in Palestine.’
As you walk around the tightly packed estates of this part of Rochdale, you quickly see that concern and anger over the conflict raging 2,500 miles away is raw and real. Palestinian flags are on prominent display in homes and shop windows. ‘Free Gaza’ graffiti is daubed on the walls. Outside one house I came across, a car had a Palestinian flag stencilled immaculately across its bonnet.
Ibrahim, who runs one of the local solicitors’ offices, explains why.
‘It’s true that local people are unhappy with Starmer and Labour on this. They have a strong affinity with the people in Gaza. Yes, it’s partly based on religion. But it’s also grounded in basic humanity. They see what’s going on there and they think, “That’s wrong.” So they think Starmer’s wrong too.’
But while the impact of Gaza on political opinion among Muslim voters is significant, the community is not a single, amorphous block.
As I’m heading over to meet the Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, taxi driver Umar offers a slightly different perspective. ‘It’s an important issue,’ he says, ‘but there are a lot of important things going on.’
He explains how some of his friends have said they should stop buying Coca-Cola because of the drinks giant’s alleged support of Israel. ‘But it’s like, well if I do, is that really going to make much difference? And anyway, I like Coke!’
Azhar Ali is pinning his hopes on the fact Umar is right, and this will not become a single-issue campaign. Which is why he’s agreed to take me out canvassing with him in Wardle, traditionally one of Rochdale’s rocksolid Conservative wards. ‘It’s the bread and butter issues that people are concerned about,’ the Lancashire Labour group leader tells me. ‘People are struggling to pay their mortgages. Affordable housing, people living in overcrowded conditions. The NHS is coming up over and over again.’
And Gaza? ‘There is anger on the doorstep. Particularly among the younger ones, who probably don’t tend to vote anyway,’ Azhar – who has broken from his leader and called for an immediate ceasefire – admits to me. ‘But the first and second generation, and the professionals, when you have the conversation with them, I think 70 per cent of them are happy with my position.’
As we walk through the blizzard sweeping down from Brown Wardle Hill, the fact that Labour are focusing resources on core Tory areas such as this is a clear sign of political confidence. Though Azhar’s team’s presence here is also a sign of trepidation over the reception that may greet them in their traditional Muslim areas.
But it soon becomes clear that when it comes to those ‘bread and butter issues’, Labour is, indeed, cutting through.
SUSAN, who lives in one of the neat cottages lining Ramsden Road and normally votes Tory, is almost apoplectic over the state of the health service. ‘What’s happening to the NHS is disgusting,’ she tells Azhar. ‘It’s basically had it. It’s a disgrace.’ She promises to consider switching her vote.
And so it continues: potholes, plans for traffic calming measures, fuel prices, hospital car parking charges. These are the issues troubling the voters of Wardle. Gaza doesn’t merit a single mention.
And this, at heart, represents the key to the Rochdale by-election.
Whether passions over Palestine and Israel hand George Galloway victory. Or antipathy to the Government allows Labour to hold on.
Yes, there are some complicating factors. Reform (formerly Ukip) has convinced former Labour MP Simon Danczuk to return and fight under its banner. And he has the name recognition and local support to take votes from both white working-class Labour and Tory voters.
Organisation will also have a key impact. Labour is throwing significant resources into the seat. And while Galloway is surrounded by a small core of loyal activists, I didn’t detect quite the same ferocious energy that I’ve seen from his supporters in previous contests.
But at the end of the day, it will be the resonance – or lack of it – of events in the Middle East that will determine the result.
As I’m leaving Galloway’s campaign HQ, I pick up a flyer. He has insisted he is focusing on local issues, as well as those dominating the international stage, but its opening words are: ‘The people of Gaza don’t have a vote – but you do.’
George Galloway is right. The people of Gaza don’t have a vote in Rochdale. And for Labour, that might just be enough.
One driver has the Palestinian flag stencilled immaculately on the bonnet