Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
George Galloway’s by-election victory is unlikely to have any electoral impact on Labor, but it could start a rift in support between the coalition that Sir Keir Starmer relies on, sources say. say:
Britain’s Labor Party candidate has won in a landslide in Rochdale after an unusual electoral victory for the mainstream party collapsed.
When Tony Lloyd’s death late last year triggered a by-election, Labor was expected to retain the seat. But weeks later, the party was forced to abandon its candidate and suspend its campaign, handing victory to Mr Galloway, who ran a campaign attacking Labour’s stance on the Gaza conflict.
Labor insiders downplayed the impact of the result, pointing to the unique circumstances. Officials say the party cannot afford to be complacent but risks reading too much into the by-election results, which some believe is a fluke due to exceptional circumstances.
And they suggested Mr Galloway was so “toxic” that his presence in Westminster could actually unite Parliamentary Labor further.
“I don’t think we can read a broader pattern because Labor didn’t support anyone, and I don’t think he would have won even if we did,” said one party source.
But the result remains Labor’s concern that Sir Keir’s failure to take a tougher stance on Israeli retaliation for the Hamas attack in October could cause long-term problems for Mr Starmer. represents.
Party activists said they did not believe the result would cause major disruption to the next general election. However, if Labor’s electoral coalition campaigned on anger over foreign policy combined with anti-establishment sentiment, this could signal a long-term change and the potential for it to be ‘exploited’. They claimed that there was.
The person said this could become even more dangerous if the coalition government to oust the Conservatives from public office weakens.
“I think this speaks to the weakness of the electoral coalition, which will probably become clearer over the years,” said one source. “But the collapse of the Conservative Party means that things will not be as Galloway suggests that it is all over for Keir.”
They pointed to polls in Bristol Central that suggested the Greens were likely to win the constituency, and suggested there could be a direct threat to some Labor seats.
They highlighted outstanding issues in Islington North, Hackney North and Stoke Newington, where Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, who were expelled from the party, sit as independents.
And he said there were candidates seeking to challenge front-runner Rushanara Ali’s home wards of Bethnal Green and Bow, as well as Wes Streeting’s constituency in Ilford North. , argued that Labor was unlikely to lose seats given the scale of the Conservative party’s collapse.
“I think that speaks to the longer term.” [the leadership] “They have moved too far to the right and are taking this urban coalition too much for granted, which could potentially split and strengthen the Green Party,” the source said.
Political expert and commentator Professor Rob Ford said suggestions that the party could lose seats due to a decline in support from Muslim voters who want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza are not necessarily true. His poll analysis suggests Sir Kiir is unlikely to lose his seat due to declining support among Muslim voters.
He said: “The only precedent for the kind of protests we’re seeing week in and week out over Gaza is the Iraq war. And while Labor has seen a huge swing to the Liberal Democrats in Muslim communities, Did he lose his seat? No.”
But he added that requests from anxious MPs in seats with large Muslim populations could put further strain on campaign resources and could start to cause “a headache” for Sir Keir. .
“This is a sore point for the Labor leadership, not only because the Gaza-Israel issue is a very difficult issue for the party, but also because they need to contest a target of 150 seats. “We don’t really want to put resources into, say, the 20 seats that Labor currently holds, to reassure MPs who are in the party,” Professor Ford added.
Professor Ford agreed that the result could signal future problems for Sir Keir in the form of an “anti-establishment” vote.
“What Mr Galloway has done here is show that Labor does not necessarily have a monopoly on grievances,” he said.
“We live in very unstable times. The risk for Labor is that the message Mr Galloway is using – the argument that ‘we are fed up and we want change’ – is becoming more and more There is a possibility that it could be used against the Labor Party.
“I think Labor strategists are actually very conscious of this. Three years ago Labor was 10 points behind in the polls, not 20 or 25 points ahead.
“This shows that this situation is volatile and that voters could swing by 35 points over the course of a single legislative session. They could swing by more than 35 points again in the next course.”
Mr Galloway said he wanted former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn to accompany him as one of his sponsors when he was introduced to the House of Commons in a bid to drive a wedge into the Labor movement.
Controversial politician Mr Galloway said his “hope” was that Mr Corbyn and former Tory minister David would introduce him to MPs.
However, he has not contacted the Islington North MP and it is understood that no such arrangement has been discussed.