Labour candidate supported campaign against party fellow in UK polls

By
Murtaza Ali Shah
|

LONDON: Britain’s 2017 snap general election will be remembered for the huge political shocks that it created but it will also be remembered for one of the nastiest-ever campaign run against Naz Shah, Labour’s candidate for Bradford West, who has won for the second time with an increased majority.

The campaign against Naz Shah was run by at least three groups who joined forces in order to oust her from the constituency at any cost. These groups included honour killing victim Samia Shahid’s family, now-defunct Respect Party’s supporters and for the first time, the role of Labour MP Imran Hussain’s from Bradford East is laid bare as Imran Hussain’s group openly supported independent candidate Salma Yaqoob against Naz Shah and didn’t hide their dislike of her.

Naz Shah's Bradford West constituency has more Muslim voters than any other constituency in Britain with total 67,568 in Bradford West voters registered in it out of which over 22000 are eligible Muslim voters and neighbouring Bradford East constituency has the second most Muslim votes – around 67,752 registered voters out of which around 37% are Muslim voters.

In Bradford West, this was no ordinary election campaign. It was probably the only constituency in Britain where one of the most vicious-ever campaigns was seen involving slander, smears, threats of violence, allegations, sectarian slurs, character assassination, lies, and baradariism card – all aimed at Naz Shah.baradariism card – all aimed at Naz Shah.

Shockingly, it was Labour candidate from Bradford East who was involved in a campaign against another Labour candidate in violation of the party rules. Salma Yaqoob was brought to Bradford West to stand against Naz Shah from hundreds of miles away in Birmingham Hodge Hill.

Former Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Choudhary Rangzeb, who is also a Labour councillor for Bradford West and holds a position in the Labour Party, threw his support behind the rival candidates by not supporting Naz Shah even for a single day. He encouraged his supporters to vote against Naz Shah.

Former Lord Mayor of Bradford and current Keighley councillor Khadim Hussain, who has been expelled from Labour Party over antisemitism, first stood as an independent and then announced to join Salma Yaqoob’s campaign as part of the same plot.

Imran Hussain’s campaign team openly supported Salma Yaqoob’s campaign; heckled and booed Naz Shah and supported the campaign against her on social media. They didn’t hide the fact that they wanted Naz Shah to lose the election and were vocal and practical about it.

When Imran Hussain, in whose presence this all happened, was asked as to why his team was attacking a fellow Labour candidate in such a vicious manner and why was he encouraging it, he initially replied that this matter shouldn’t be discussed as it involved “complexities”. Independent local witnesses have confirmed that Imran Hussain’s family members phoned them urging them not to support Labour candidate in Bradford West. When pressed that there was sufficient evidence available showing his team’s work for the independent candidate, he said he will take legal action if this issue was raised and put the phone down without answering specific questions related to Naz Shah. He said in a text message, without answering the particular questions about Bradford West’s Labour candidate: “I have informed you very clearly on more than one occasion that of course I support Labour candidates everywhere.”

At hustings and meetings, Imran Hussain’s supporters provided back up services to Ms Yaqoob’s team, lobbied for her and hissed and booed when Naz Shah spoke. In one instance, video recording of which is available, Imran Hussain openly sided with Salma Yaqoob while sharing the same platform and venue with Naz Hussain. Imran Hussain advocated that Salma Yaqoob, an independent, be given equal airtime as Naz Shah, the Labour candidate who has been a member of the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee. The audience were visibly shocked when they saw a Labour candidate openly siding with the independent trying to oust Labour candidate.

Salma Yaqoob’s campaign openly told the mainly Muslim voters that Salma Yaqoob should be given votes because she wore hijab and therefore was a better Muslim as compared to Naz Shah. Salma Yaqoob didn’t distance herself from the comments of cleric Asim Hussain who, at the launch event for Salma Yaqoob, urged the voters to support the “better Muslim” between Naz Shah and Salma Yaqoob.

Local Labour Party in Bradford East and West didn’t condemn Labour activist Pateh Khan who likened Naz Shah to a “dog” and urged voters not to support her. As he made these remarks, some in the audience clapped while Salma Yaqoob looked on approvingly.

Murder victim Samia Shahid’s family supported Salma Yaqoob’s campaign and organised events in her support. They did so to punish Naz Shah who lighted the honour killing case of Samia Shahid and has been pursuing it relentlessly.

The campaign turned so bruising and vicious that former cabinet minister Sayeeda Warsi intervened to stop abusive attacks on Naz Shah. It’s understood that Sayeeda Warsi spoke to Salma Yaqoob and told her to reign into her supporters who were doing no good to her campaign by using dirty tricks against the female Labour candidate. Sayeeda Warsi had openly condemned the same campaign against Naz Shah by the same people, using same tactics, in 2015 when she fought against George Galloway and took the seat from him. It is not clear whether Warsi also spoke to Imran Hussain or not.

Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service for North West England, said in a statement: “In Bradford West, some in British Pakistani community should be ashamed of undisguised misogyny towards Naz Shah.”

But the dirty campaigned failed as the decent voters of Bradford West decisively rejected the negative campaign. On 8th June, Naz Shah secured 65 per cent of the vote and increased her majority to a massive 21,902. Conservative George Grant beat Ms Yaqoob into a distant third place. Naz Shah’s majority has increased compared with 19,977 in 2015 in one of the largest increased majorities seen so far in this election.

After the election, Naz Shah said that “the level of misogyny I received in this election was incredible, I didn’t think there was anything that could have topped Galloway. But here we are. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. The people of Bradford West were very clear about what they wanted to see. They chose hope over division.”

George Grant, the Conservative candidate, said he was proud of the clean campaign he had run but said the “personality-based” campaign had been as bad as 2015.