Despite Galloway's breezy braggartry that his Respect Party would field candidates in every Bradford ward in the forthcoming May local elections, this has in fact proven to be far from the case. In total, Respect will be contesting only 12 of the city's 30 wards. Predictably, the ethno-confessional identity of its slate of candidates displays a certain bias, with 8 of the 12 being Muslim and one possibly Hindu (Karmani).
Yesterday, a rumour was reported that a Labour Party member in Manningham had defected to the Respect camp, and according to the Statement of Persons Nominated issued by Bradford Council, the Respect candidate is named as Ahmed Ishtiaq. Confusingly, an individual of that same name stood as a Conservative in Manningham in 2006, and not unnaturally in the initial draft of this piece I therefore got him mixed up with his namesake. As you can see from the comments section, the Conservative Ahmed Ishtiaq remains in the Conservative Party, and quite rightly has been rather annoyed that his name has seemingly been sullied by a false association with Respect. I therefore apologise to this latter Mr Ishtiaq who, contrary to what was thought earlier, can in no way be accused of being opportunistic. This error led to the seemingly bizarre situation of Ahmed Ishtiaq backing both the Conservative candidate Abid Majid in Bradford Moor and Respect candidate Mohammad Shabbir in Heaton. All has of course become clear, now that we know that there are two Ahmed Ishqtiaqs involved in Bradford politics.
Another interesting fact to be gleaned from the list of candidates is the fact that the two ex-BNP councillors Paul and Lynda Cromie now sitting as Independents, have acted as the proposers and seconders of Michael Walls, the Conservative Party candidate for Queensbury. The BNP, which is fielding very few candidates nationwide owing to its implosion, is standing Eric Baxendale in the ward, so evidently there is no love lost between him and the Cromies. A local party which was born of a schism within the BNP some years ago - the Democratic Nationalists - is fielding candidates in Royds, Tong and Wyke. The BNP is now in such a poor state that Baxendale is its sole candidate.
Surprisingly, Respect has not been able to field candidates in Keighley Central or Toller, two of the wards identified in a preceding piece as being good prospects for the party. Realistically therefore, Respect only stands a chance of taking six seats. It may of course take none, although it should make a decent showing in those wards identified. Thanks to Galloway's popularity in Bradford West, the eyes of the media will certainly be eagerly peering at Bradford in early May. Will this really prove to be Galloway's "Bradford Spring", or will it turn out to be a "Bradford squib"?
The full slate of Respect candidates is as follows:
Bolton and Undercliffe - Tazeem Sawaiz
Bowling and Barkerend - Mohammed Asif Khan
Bradford Moor - Faisal Khan
City - Ruqqaya Collector
Clayton and Fairweather Green - Dawud Islam
Great Horton - Salim Jelani
Heaton - Mohammad Shabbir
Little Horton - Alyas Karmani
Manningham - Ahmed Ishtiaq
Thornton and Allerton - Patrick John Mulligan
Tong - Sarah Cartin
Wyke - James Philip Clayton
Yesterday, a rumour was reported that a Labour Party member in Manningham had defected to the Respect camp, and according to the Statement of Persons Nominated issued by Bradford Council, the Respect candidate is named as Ahmed Ishtiaq. Confusingly, an individual of that same name stood as a Conservative in Manningham in 2006, and not unnaturally in the initial draft of this piece I therefore got him mixed up with his namesake. As you can see from the comments section, the Conservative Ahmed Ishtiaq remains in the Conservative Party, and quite rightly has been rather annoyed that his name has seemingly been sullied by a false association with Respect. I therefore apologise to this latter Mr Ishtiaq who, contrary to what was thought earlier, can in no way be accused of being opportunistic. This error led to the seemingly bizarre situation of Ahmed Ishtiaq backing both the Conservative candidate Abid Majid in Bradford Moor and Respect candidate Mohammad Shabbir in Heaton. All has of course become clear, now that we know that there are two Ahmed Ishqtiaqs involved in Bradford politics.
Another interesting fact to be gleaned from the list of candidates is the fact that the two ex-BNP councillors Paul and Lynda Cromie now sitting as Independents, have acted as the proposers and seconders of Michael Walls, the Conservative Party candidate for Queensbury. The BNP, which is fielding very few candidates nationwide owing to its implosion, is standing Eric Baxendale in the ward, so evidently there is no love lost between him and the Cromies. A local party which was born of a schism within the BNP some years ago - the Democratic Nationalists - is fielding candidates in Royds, Tong and Wyke. The BNP is now in such a poor state that Baxendale is its sole candidate.
Surprisingly, Respect has not been able to field candidates in Keighley Central or Toller, two of the wards identified in a preceding piece as being good prospects for the party. Realistically therefore, Respect only stands a chance of taking six seats. It may of course take none, although it should make a decent showing in those wards identified. Thanks to Galloway's popularity in Bradford West, the eyes of the media will certainly be eagerly peering at Bradford in early May. Will this really prove to be Galloway's "Bradford Spring", or will it turn out to be a "Bradford squib"?
The full slate of Respect candidates is as follows:
Bolton and Undercliffe - Tazeem Sawaiz
Bowling and Barkerend - Mohammed Asif Khan
Bradford Moor - Faisal Khan
City - Ruqqaya Collector
Clayton and Fairweather Green - Dawud Islam
Great Horton - Salim Jelani
Heaton - Mohammad Shabbir
Little Horton - Alyas Karmani
Manningham - Ahmed Ishtiaq
Thornton and Allerton - Patrick John Mulligan
Tong - Sarah Cartin
Wyke - James Philip Clayton
George Galloway & Bradford Respect Candidates
Well, whatever Gorgeous George does, it will at least be interesting. He was elected as a protest against politicians and the status quo.
ReplyDeleteExactly what has Labour, Conservative or Liberal politicians done for the people of Bradford in the last fourty years?
ReplyDeleteObviously not taught them to spell.
DeleteObviously they haven' taught people to spell!
DeleteOnce again the writer is mistaken that the Ahmed Ishtiaq, who stood for Conservative in 2006, and has proposed a Conservative candidate Abid Majid in Bradford Moor has not defected and he is not a opportunist at all. I have been Conservative since 1995 will continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe Ahmed Ishtiaq, who is the Candidate for Respect in Manningham is a different individual, who has infect defected from Labour to Respect, and yes such individuals are opportunist.
The reporter should have confirmed such report before printing it.
Mr Ahmed, please accept my apologies for any errors. The text shall be amended accordingly.
DeleteAbid Majid is not a Respect Party Candidate
ReplyDeletehe is a Conservative Party Candidate.
u got ya facts wrong, Ishtiaq Ahmed has never been involved in politics or any party. He is a fresh candidate for RESPECT
ReplyDeleteThank you Amar. The piece will be corrected.
DeleteHe is not a fresh candidate... He was a member of labour party and he voted for Imran Hussain to be selected.
DeleteIshtiaq Ahmed has not defected from Conservtive to Respect
ReplyDeleteand he is not an opportunistic as said by the reporter.
The Manningham ward Cadidate is a different individual
This is not good for Bradford. Have you seen this footage of George's private celebration after winning Bradford West.
ReplyDeletehttp://happypropagandist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/future-balkanization-of-britain.html
Pretty self-explanatory really
Why dont you publish my comments
ReplyDeletethat your report is wrong about Ahmed Ishtiaq
As many people are thinking of me being real opportunistic
which i am not please publish my comments asap
regards
I do apologise Mr Ahmed, as I was not withholding your comments for any malign or underhand reason. It's a simple consequence of not having had internet access for this past week.
Delete