General Election 2017 – Bradford West Again
By KB Player at That Place
Who can forget George Galloway of the Respect party winning Bradford West in a by-election after running a foul sectarian campaign back in 2012? And his tweet saying “shattered but happy after the Blackburn triumph?”
The 2015 General Election’s brightest spot was Naz Shah’s defeating him and telling him off for running a further disgusting sectarian campaign. Shah’s back story includes a forced marriage and Galloway’s agent was doubting this on the grounds that if mother and other witnesses attended a forced marriage, it wasn’t forced!
Shah comes from a disability rights background and is an eloquent speaker.
It was Shah’s “anti-Zionist” remarks that kicked off the whole Ken Livingstone debacle on antisemitism and Shah, whose apology seemed sincere, really emerged with the most credit, certainly compared to Livingstone, Corbyn and Shami Chakrabati and her whitewash of antisemitism in the Labour Party.
Now Salma Yaqoob (pictured above), former leader of Galloway’s Respect party, is running against her in the General Election. Yaqoob lives in Birmingham, has tried to get into the Labour Party and was refused and now, it seems, wants to split the left vote in Bradford West.
Yaqoob broke with Galloway over his rape remarks vis-a-vis Julian Assange. She has a feminist streak and is no Islamist. But why Bradford West when Birmingham has its own set of problems and a sizable Muslim population? Also she was campaigning for Labour a week ago.
Shiraz Socialist 
Mick said,
May 13, 2017 at 9:35 pm
It’s still win-win for leftists. This has everything they could want – internecine political and community squabbles of no interest to the average joe, petty religious bigotry lacking all irony, plus quality diversity points.
For lefties to ‘blag’ the Muslim vote, it’s preferable to have one fronting you. And a woman, ‘cos what the hey. This is also oblivious to its own irony because if you also say that to gain the white vote you must have a white candidate, the left would dismiss that as racism.
maleredfem said,
May 13, 2017 at 11:33 pm
*Exasperated sigh.
IainF said,
May 14, 2017 at 10:54 pm
“But why Bradford West when Birmingham has its own set of problems and a sizable Muslim population? ”
Maybe they don’t like the fact that Naz Shah apologized for the anti-Semitic tweet and seemed sincere?
Usually they believe you should “double down” when accused of anti-Semitism.
Mick said,
May 15, 2017 at 11:35 am
Indeed. Labour are still happy to host segregated Muslim meetings and they covered up grotesque sex gang scandals, so it’s cheek of the highest order for Sadiq Khan to call voters bastards, moderate Muslims Uncle Toms and say that terror attacks are part and parcel of big city life.
Cheeky for a party of equality and peace.
Andrew Coates said,
May 16, 2017 at 3:32 pm
Her vanity knows few bounds,
” any notion, which sadly is being spread in the current campaign, that somehow this is a revenge campaign or George Galloway has some input into it, is absolutely incorrect.
“I would be the last person to be used for such a means.”
Ms Yaqoob, an NHS manager who was born in Bradford but lives in Birmingham, said she had been approached by Bradfordians urging her to stand in the election and continue the “original, positive, fresh, vibrant campaign”.
Ms Yaqoob said while she didn’t have a formal manifesto, she would be campaigning about issues like education, unemployment, health and homelessness.
Ms Yaqoob is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea of left-wing parties collaborating to form so-called ‘progressive alliances’ and said she was also a firm supporter of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Asked why, then, she was standing against one of Mr Corbyn’s sitting MPs, she said she had “a huge amount of respect for Naz Shah as an individual – she’s broken certain barriers” but then accused her of being part of a cabal of MPs seeking “to undermine their own party leader”.
Nice touch that, “cabal”.
Now where did i heard that one before…
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/15287425.Former_Respect_leader_says_she__39_s_not_standing_in_Bradford_to_exact_Galloway__39_s_revenge/