Recently leaders of Muslim organisations have been discussing, openly, the flight of the Muslim vote away from Labour.
This was news to me, as I am sure it must be news to you as well. I did not believe a word of this fake outrage since the evidence shows the very opposite.
Chart: Voting at the 2017 general election by religious affiliation
Source: http://www.brin.ac.uk/religious-affiliation-and-party-choice-at-the-2017-general-election
The chart above suggests what most of us might have concluded, that most of the Muslim vote does indeed go to the Labour Party. There is no evidence to suggest that it was any different in 2019 election.
So why are leading Muslim commentators and organisations suddenly claiming that Muslims are fleeing the Labour Party?
To understand this new and disingenuous narrative, we need to look at several different strands that have become more pronounced over the past few years.
In 2010 when Ed Miliband was the leader of Labour, there was a concerted effort to secure and expand on the Muslim vote. We witnessed at that time many in Labour who felt empowered to speak out negatively against Israel and India. Indeed, we even had the spectacle of leading Labour MPs actively seeking to get a visa ban imposed on the then Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Labour Party conferences became engrossed in attacking Israel on the Palestinian issue, and India on Kashmir. It became clear to many of us that the tail of the Muslim vote bank was beginning to wag the Labour dog. MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development UK) claim that Muslim voters make up some 10% or more of voters in 83 parliamentary seats (13% of constituencies). We can see why Labour was so keen to appease this demographic.
Miliband lost that election and in came Jeremy Corbyn. The very man who was seeking a ban on PM Modi. Labour went into overdrive and the politics of the far left was given a massive impetus. Given Corbyn’s background in supporting some shady Islamic groups, it was no surprise that Muslims within the party were given a free for all. To basically do whatever they wanted which eventually led to Labour adopting an anti-India position on Kashmir.
This was the golden era for the Muslim community. The years of dedicated support to the party was finally beginning to pay off. More and more of their community were being elevated into positions of power and influence. They were now affecting actual policy that met their requirements. Namely for the Party to be openly anti-Israel and anti-India. But the enlightened British voters rejected Labour. They saw the party to be anti-Semitic, anti-nation, anti-Police, anti-business and lacking in any credibility in managing the economy. Corbyn and Labour lost in 2019 on a massive scale.
In comes Keir Starmer, a man who is stuck between a rock and hard place. He has made a few minor adjustments to row Labour away from anti-Semitic tendencies and being lukewarm on Kashmir. The Muslim community are fearful that under Starmer they will lose much of their influence.
Therefore, this new fake narrative of Muslims fleeing Labour is but a pre-emptive strike. It’s to show Starmer that if he goes too far, they will act against him.
Starmer must have read my column of 12th May, titled: ‘Saving LABOUR: The Bells Toll’, in which I give him the blueprint to save Labour. It will be interesting to see if Starmer saves Labour, or will he be subservient and follow the politics of appeasement?
The truth: Muslims are not fleeing Labour, since they have nowhere else to go!
