A source close to one of the candidates in the Bradford West by-election has revealed that as newsworthy as yesterday’s victory for George Galloway proved to be, there is much more of interest that will shortly be forthcoming. Not only was the result itself unusual, but so was some of the behaviour that attended the campaign. For example, I have been informed that
“Labour supporters had to have a police escort out of Odsal Sports Centre last night after threats from Respect supporters.”
How strange. Why would Respect supporters threaten their Labour equivalents, and what was the nature of these threats? Were they simply a display of an overly vigorous partisan verbal aggression, or something more substantial and sinister?
Unsurprisingly, given the demographic makeup of Bradford West, there have also been serious allegations of postal vote rigging, with the claim being made that residents at some addresses had voted over 100 times. Apparently, The Daily Telegraph is conducting an investigation into these allegations so we should hear more about this in the days or weeks to come. If these allegations prove to be true, this will not be the first time that widespread abuse of the postal voting system has taken place in Bradford West, for such misconduct occurred in the constituency during the 2010 General Election.
Whilst the journalists at the BBC purport to be puzzled by the result of this election, any objective observer can see that the Islamic factor was key to determining its outcome. As such, it highlights the reality that Respect is an emergent Islamist party, irrespective of the fact that Galloway himself is not a Muslim. Galloway has thus far proven to be adept at saddling and riding the Islamist tiger, and has been willing to employ inflammatory oratory to stir up Muslim emotions as illustrated in this video of one of his speeches made in Tower Hamlets. Now that he has successfully demonstrated the appeal of Islamic demagogy, how many others might follow in his footsteps? Labour have sown the seed of identity politics, and now they are reaping the Islamist whirlwind. Galloway certainly hopes to capitalise upon his success by fielding Respect candidates in each of Bradford's wards during the May 2012 elections, but will they win seats?
As you can see from the video of his victory speech below, Galloway was rather pleased with himself. For full election results and commentary, click here.
Whilst the journalists at the BBC purport to be puzzled by the result of this election, any objective observer can see that the Islamic factor was key to determining its outcome. As such, it highlights the reality that Respect is an emergent Islamist party, irrespective of the fact that Galloway himself is not a Muslim. Galloway has thus far proven to be adept at saddling and riding the Islamist tiger, and has been willing to employ inflammatory oratory to stir up Muslim emotions as illustrated in this video of one of his speeches made in Tower Hamlets. Now that he has successfully demonstrated the appeal of Islamic demagogy, how many others might follow in his footsteps? Labour have sown the seed of identity politics, and now they are reaping the Islamist whirlwind. Galloway certainly hopes to capitalise upon his success by fielding Respect candidates in each of Bradford's wards during the May 2012 elections, but will they win seats?
As you can see from the video of his victory speech below, Galloway was rather pleased with himself. For full election results and commentary, click here.
I also lean towards something is not what it seems. I do agree with any movement of voters towards a rejection of our present tri-party grip on our Country but change brought about by skulduggery does not appeal.
ReplyDeleteWe shall see. Whilst generally speaking I am in favour of people not voting for the three major parties, the success of Respect is not something that I relish. However, this cloud could have a silver lining, for it should be a wake-up call for non-Muslim voters. If they don't get out and vote in the local elections in May, Bradfordians could find themselves confronted with the unpleasant reality of a significant bloc of Respect councillors, and what might they, as members of a de facto Islamist party, choose to do?
DeleteBritish democracy, Arab style.
ReplyDeleteOr Pakistani.
DeleteYou are spot on.
ReplyDeleteNever trust the BBC.
Thank you. The BBC speaks with a forked tongue.
DeleteThe BBC appointed a muslim as Head of Ethics and Religion! Doesn't that say it all?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, there is that small matter. Thank you for reminding me.
DeleteYou cannot, as much as I despise the man, blame Galloway for taking advantage of a political opportunity. If you say the right things and 'promise' a certain reaction you will get people to vote for you. Once you are in parliament what you do is largely up to the one elected. Certainly such issues as gay marriage, for example, will not sit well with Galloway's constituents.
ReplyDeleteHowever any alleged fraud almost certainly began with NuLab's determination to give more people postal votes. As some of the people in Bradford probably do not speak English, how beneficial to round up a bunch of postal votes and someone fill them in for the locals who have yet to master the English tongue. Bloc voting, however constructed, is a useful lever at a time like this.
That ripping sound you hear is the Labour party feeling the seat of its pants been ripped because the creature they so eagerly fed and encouraged is biting back.
If Galloway is a true politician then he would say anything to get into parliament, so what he did is fine and expected. I too share with him the desire to get our troops as far away from places like Afghanistan as soon as possible. Nation building and peace are beyond anyone there. I would probably differ with him that, post-withdrawal, we seal our borders and stop letting anyone in who comes for the free money and who has no ambition to contribute to society.
But my platform would not have been to appeal to the muslims. And I wouldn't have grown a beard to look the part, either.
I agree with you that from an electoral perspective Galloway evidently did precisely what was needed to win over the voters in this particular seat. He is canny and shrewd. Like you, I share Galloway’s opposition to involvement in Afghanistan and advocate our withdrawal, for it is an utterly futile and damaging exercise. It would be preferable to concentrate upon nation building at home.
DeleteWhilst postal vote fraud may once again have reared its ugly head in this seat as in 2010, the magnitude of Galloway’s victory demonstrates that its absence would not have altered the end result of the election. He knew what needed to be done to win the seat, and he did it well. Labour however will be quite content to continue paving the road to hell, as will the Tories and the Lib Dems, by continuing with their ongoing and successful intention of Balkanising Britain. The Muslim bloc vote looks set to grow.
As for the question of beards, I am perhaps beginning to understand why Peter the Great ordered his courtiers and state officials to shave them off.
To put things in perspective it is unfair to stereotype Labour as using the Muslim vote and patronising them. In fact all three parties do it. Labour started it but the other parties have been fast learners. For example at the last two General Elections (GE) the Tory candidate in Bradford West has been Asian. In fact the Tory candidate and his team in the 2005 GE were charged with 350 counts (!!) of postal vote frauds (the candidate was dropped from the prosecution part way through the trial but his team were found guilty on all counts). In 2010 I knew the Liberals were going to take Bradford East (formerly Bradford North) from Labour because they had done a very good job impressing the Muslim community leaders. Sure enough the new Liberal MP for Bradford East, a former long serving Liberal Cllr, David Ward is now paying back his Muslim voters declaring his support for the 'poor Palestinians in Gaza' and various other grovellings.
ReplyDeleteTory attempts to attract the Muslim vote and Muslim funding really started when IDS was leader. Where did he get the idea from ? Simples ! He was the Parliamentary Candidate in, guess where, Bradford West, in 1987 before being shoehorned into a 'safe' seat in 1992, in Norman Tebbitt's old seat (they don't get much safer than that !). IDS was regularly pictured with Muslim community leaders stood in front of the Bradford Club (if you look in the corner of some of those pictures you could see Cllr Margaret Eaton (now Dame Margaret Eaton) who was leader of the Council for 8 years). The Bradford Conservatives have a fundraising organisation, the Bradford Conservative Federation, which changed over the years from being a rich white businessmen's social organisation to being an Asian businessmen's organisation.
For what I have written above from my experience in Bradford you could probably write similar histories about candidates, attempts to engage 'community leaders' and Asian businessmen being involved in fundraising substituting other names like ; Birmingham, Blackburn, Leicester, etc etc.
There have been classic examples of how leading Asians have been happy to flip from one Party to another at very short notice depending on what has been offered to them. They have absolutely no loyalty to the ideology of any of the major parties in this country, only to their own self advancement. Two examples I will cite. The first was the Tory candidate in the Southall by election a few years ago. He originally supported the Labour Party and gave a generous cheque to Tony Blair but when he found out he would'nt be the Labour candidate in the by election he flipped to Tory. Labour then showed pictures of his cheque to Blair to the Press. A second example is quoted by Danny Lockwood in his book 'The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury' where he has a leading Asian woman in the Leeds/Dewsbury area mulling over which Party she is going to support. She is finally offered a 'better' package by the Tories. Step forward Baroness Sayeeda Warsi !!
I have rambled on for long enough tonight
Ivan Winters
Democratic Nationalists
Ivan, thank you for some excellent background on the situation in Bradford and punting for the Muslim vote. I didn’t realise that IDS had previously stood in Bradford West. As for Warsi, I do recall mention of her taking a while to decide which party would provide her with the best opportunity for personal political advancement. The Southall situation rings some bells too. Incidentally, would you care to write a review of Danny Lockwood’s book?
DeleteApparently, Simon Darby has published a copy of the letter Galloway posted to the voters in Bradford West. I understand it has been kept quiet by the media.
ReplyDeletehttp://sarahmaidofalbion.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/george-galloway-islam-and-britains.html
Thanks for this. It is also included in an analysis of Respect's prospects in the May local elections here: http://durotrigan.blogspot.com/2012/04/bradford-may-2012-respect-breakthrough.html
DeleteGiven its content, it is no surprise that the mass media have chosen not to publicise it. However, it would certainly be in the public interest if people were to be made aware of what Galloway has written.
You are wrong about Galloway not being a Muslim, he is most definitely a Muslim. He had a Muslim wife from about 2000 to 2005. Islam is very clear about a Muslim women marrying a non Muslim husband.
ReplyDeleteThe reverse situation is okay, as the man (in Islam) is always the head of the household. Just Google, why can't a Muslim women marry a non Muslim man and the replies are very clear, there is no ambiguity on the matter.
Now, you may say that Galloway ignored that rule, to which I'd say, that Muslims go very much by the book and would not tolerate any deviation. They certainly wouldn't vote/follow him if he didn't follow the rules.
Thanks for the info RH. I hadn't realised that. Whatever Galloway really is, he's an unwelcome opportunist, albeit a very canny one.
Delete