Last Thursday the good people of Batley and Spen voted, by a mere 323 votes (that is down from 2017 by 16,548 votes), to keep Labour as their parliamentary representative by voting for Kim Leadbeater. Just think about it, that is a reduction of the Labour vote by 55% since 2017.
The narrative that was spun by leading characters within Labour and the Muslim community was that there would be an exodus of Muslims voters, and that these votes would go to their knight in shining armour – Saint George, of Galloway fame. Of course, I had informed all of you several weeks back that whilst for this election some Muslims would side with Galloway, that overall, they will not, and cannot, abandon Labour since it is their last and only refuge.
The Muslim community had one card to play, and that was to elect someone that Labour detests. Their saviour got only 8,264 votes. I accept that is a decent number of votes, but let’s be clear, Galloway was meant to sweep up the vast majority of the Muslim vote, and also that of other disgruntled Labour voters. Even these two disgruntled vote banks could not remove Labour.
What does this tell us about Labour and the power of the Muslim vote bank? With respect to Labour, it is very simple, at a national level they are haemorrhaging votes from all side of the Labour family. Unless there is a miracle, Starmer (if he is still the leader of the Labour Party) will lose the next General Election. With respect to the Muslim vote bank, their fake outrage based on vote bank politics has been exposed. Even with all the power at their disposal, with Galloway heading the publicity campaign, and with so much focus by the media on their community, when it came to it, many Muslims still voted with Labour.
So what is the best the Muslim community can do in the next General Election? Look at the table above representing the top 15 places in the UK where there is a sizeable proportion of Muslim voters. Labour has a commanding majority in all of them, just like they had in Batley and Spen. So at the very best, if everything goes well for them, then it is possible for the Muslim vote bank to stop Labour in these seats. However the bigger question remains, where will that vote go? If they abstain, then they have achieved nothing. If they seek to support their own Islamic Party, will the British voting public accept such a party? Is there any other political party that has any chance of winning in these seats? Yes, the Tories. And we all know, the Muslim vote bank will never vote en masse for the Tories.
So when all the shouting, the screaming, the fake outrage, the threats and the tantrums stop, should Keir Starmer be worried if he rejects the appeasement to the Muslim vote bank? The answer has always been a simple, NO. In fact, the only way he can save Labour is to reject this type of appeasement, and to erradicate antisemitism and the anti-Hindu/anti-India politics of hate.
The lesson for all political parties is simple, when you take people and their vote for granted, that is the start of the end. Britain needs a good opposition that is for the nation, not like Labour which is now perceived as an anti-national party. Take the hard decisions Keir, save your party for the good of the nation.
