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An open letter to Bradford Labour Party, from Tower Hamlets – how to handle Galloway

August 26, 2012 12:56 pm

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Rachael Saunders

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Dear Bradford West Labour Party,

Congratulations on your local election results in May. You managed to contain the Respect momentum and minimise the number of Respect councillors elected.

Your next task is to build so you hold seats in upcoming local elections and beat Galloway in 2015.

George Galloway has a brilliant talent for rhetoric. His ability to move an audience with words and his ruthless skill at verbally mowing down any opponent wins him short term support. His skill with language and his enormous personal self confidence sometimes make it difficult for people to see through to the person he really is.

His recent comments on rape were a moment when the real man and his values shone through.

Galloway’s opinions about what constitutes rape have been widely quoted. The part of his statement which repulses me most is his “I don’t believe either of them”. I’ve seen Galloway declare himself a feminist. Using a public platform to imply that two women who have reported rape are liars makes him the enemy of anyone who wants to increase rape reporting and conviction rates. As Salma Yaqoob said, this incident “has taken the debate around violence against women a step backwards”.

To her great credit, the leader of the Respect party, Salma Yaqoob, condemned Galloway’s remarks, calling them “deeply disappointing and wrong”.

Every Respect representative, councillor and party activist, must be asked which side they are on. Do you they agree with George Galloway or Salma Yaqoob on the question of rape and access to justice?

If they agree with Galloway, they are equally culpable. If they support their party leader, surely they must recognise that George Galloway is not a fit person to represent them in parliament. Local people deserve to know where their councillors stand. They should be asked at every Full Council meeting until they respond, and the people of Bradford must be told about it.

In Tower Hamlets, George Galloway’s appearance in the Big Brother house was a turning point, when people who had supported him turned away as he publicly embarrassed them. This time his actions are far worse.

He needs to be held accountable in Bradford. Before you take on George Galloway, you need to have thought through his strengths and weaknesses. Both are considerable.

In person George Galloway’s tactic is always to bulldoze any opponent with rhetoric.

Make sure you’re well prepared. He will cite supporters to make it seem that he is in the mainstream, as if his view is the only one that can be legitimate. Make sure you have groups and individuals you can cite who are authoritative and who will speak out in your support.

Galloway hates being challenged on his record, and he will know he is weak after these comments. His response to being challenged is to dish out very eloquent insults. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted defending yourself. Think through likely attacks and have a quick response to each one which will allow you to segue back quickly into your main points.

Never ask Galloway a rhetorical question. Never give him a way back into debate. Take charge of your own moment.

Choose your moment to tackle Galloway. You do need to take him on to beat him, but make choices about what platforms you share. He will.

Once Respect started to fall apart in Tower Hamlets the previously high profile Galloway almost disappeared. Make this the moment when the people of Bradford saw him for what he is. The opportunists who revelled in his success will soon melt away once he becomes a liability.

None of this will be enough if Labour isn’t also offering the people of Bradford an alternative they can believe in.

Good luck.

Rachael

http://twitter.com/enitharmon Rosalind Mitchell

Well, George Galloway still has one thing going for him at least. He’s a socialist, something which the rabble now abusing the proud name of Labour forgot a long time ago.
- http://twitter.com/garypepworth Gary Pepworth
  
  A socialist? Really? His attitude to woman alone isn’t that of any socialist I know. Have you never seen the special condescending behaviour he reserves for when woman journalists (like Cathy Newman) have the audacity to ask him difficult questions?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001102865655 John Ruddy
  
  Galloway is as much a socialist as David Cameron. There’s only one person Gorgeous George looks out for. Himself.
  - AlanGiles
    
    Sadly, John, this appears to hold true for politicians of all parties.
    
    It seems Blair is still costing us £435,000 per year, with all his security plus he takes the full pension he is entitled to (to his credit Brown does not). Blair has a personal fortune in excess of £30 million, it is reported.
    
    Then we have the terribly upright Gove, Duncan-Smith, Grayling not to mention David Laws
    
    It is easier to say who the ones that do it out of a sense of public service are, too many politicians seem much more interested in their own comfort and security.
    - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
      
      Brown doesn’t because he is still an MP. Once he leaves the Commons and does some big private sector job or runs the IMF, he’ll cost more. Do you want to privatise security for all former MPs, is that it. What is wrong with people making money for themselves. We should not be envious, just make sure that they pay their taxes and if it is a boardroom executive, that is has been agreed by workers and shareholders. Attacking Blair for making money, is beyond the pale.
      - AlanGiles
        
        Renie. I am not “envious” I just don’t like greed (or dishonesty). By the way, your posts, views and defensive attitude sound remarkably similar to those of “The Purple Booker” – it’s nice that you are now using a name that we can actually address, should it be that it is in fact you
      - John_Dore
        
        How this comment got through moderation I don’t know.
        
        This is so typical of you Alan. Renie makes a valid point and you go on the attack.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        Yes Alan, he is. But let’s leave that be.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Purple Booker? I have read the Purple Book and like some of what it says but I am not yet a member of Progress. I have posted on LabourList before and I have always used my name. The last one was on the article about Boris Johnson by good old Matt Zarb. There are many people who share common ground with the Purple Book, Alan.
      - AlanGiles
        
        There may be many people who share common ground, but hyperbolic comments about a multimillionaire extracting every last penny is “beyond the pale”?. Rather an extreme extreme reaction to a genuinely held opinion?. And very similar to the OTT responses from the poster I mentioned .
        
        It might have been beyond the pale if I had accused him of a very serious criminal offence, for example. I merely accused him of greed. That is a moral, rather than criminal matter. Of course, Blair isn’t the only politician to suffer from it. All the parties are littered with people who will take every single penny they can get.
        
        I think other people might agree.
        
        But still you say you are not the poster previously mentioned. It is therefore an extraordinary coincidence that you share both the same views and the same writing style.
        
        Good night.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        This article is about George Galloway and how Labour needs to defeat him in Bradford West. You then started making an attack on Tony Blair because he has public security seen as he is a former PM. There is not one PM, Leader of the Opposition or Cabinet minister who does not have personal security. Attacking someone for being a multimillionaire and being entitled to personal security is absurb especially when it has no relevance to what Rachel Saunders wrote.
        There are probably many people in the Labour Party who share the same views as this Purple Booker and many people in the party who have his writing style. I think you are making a fatuous point to be honest, just as you have on Tony Blair.
      - AlanGiles
        
        Renie, With respect I wasn’t talking to you at the time anyway but I was responding in the first instance to a post by John Ruddy, which said in part:
        
        “There’s only one person Gorgeous George looks out for. Himself.”
        
        While not disagreeing with him, I was merely making the point that this seems to be a failing in politicians of ALL parties. Blair is a prime example as is, for example, Michael Gove aand Duncan-Smith, Huhne and Laws etc etc etc
        
        I will not be responding to any more of your posts. I think you know why. Have a nice life
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        With all due respect Alan, I don’t know what you are on about. I made a very clear point about Tony Blair because it is beyond the pale that you are attacking someone for being a multi-millionaire and still recieving personal security from the State because of his former job. What’s quite telling, is that you didn’t criticise Cameron, Brown (who is quite rich), Thatcher, Major, all the Cabinet, Ed Miliband, even the Royal Family for the same thing. It was an irrelevant comment that was not on topic and I as anyone on this website has the right to reply to it.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        Renie, I believe Alan and I are referring to the fact that, as I recall, a former poster by the name of ‘ThePurpleBooker’ made similar arguments to yours and briefly used your name on his profile.
        
        This could well be a mistake and even if it’s not, I’d like to emphasise that anything that happened before is water under the bridge, as far as I’m concerned. I think you have interesting ideas, even if I don’t always agree with them and it’s nice to have a young, engaged person active in Labour politics and posting on this website.
        
        I hope Alan feels the same, regardless. And I say that as someone who likes Alan.
        
        I understand, Renie, you worked for Rowenna Davis, someone whose work I hold in high esteem. It would be nice if you could write about your experiences on the website and what lessons you drew from them.
        
        Kind regards,
        
        Brum
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Thank you but I don’t know what this Purple Booker thing is? Seriously. I’m lost.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        I must have been mistaken then. My apologies.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        No problem.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        I have always used my name in reference to Matt Zarb-Cousin’s article on Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister. I may have posted on here ages ago I don’t remember. I do know Row very well, I shadowed her. I have seen some of these Purple Booker posts as have many people.
      - AlanGiles
        
        Good morning Brum.
        
        Some things just don’t “add up”. I will say no more than that:
        
        https://twitter.com/redrenie24
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Your point is….
      - John_Dore
        
        I like your comment a lot Renie, we don’t need to b e afraid of success, we need to share that success, be it jobs or taxation. Old fashioned ideas of hating someone just because they’re a millionaire is silly.
        
        Labour need people like you!!
      - http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy
        
        And in what company are boardroom salaries actually agreed by workers and shareholders? – or even by shareholders whose votes are invariably ‘advisory’ and have no impact whatsoever?
        
        And if you analyse their ‘earnings’ a large segment of a Blair’s income is not from directorships but from articles and speeches which are paid for at absurdly high rates in what amounts to a process of lavish gift giving from the corporate to the political and media elite.
        
        http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/niall-ferguson-newsweek-cover-11914269 is particularly instructive on how this now quite elaborate system of wealth transfer actually works in the United States and can turn even the most hardworking academic into a loathesome right-wing hack.
        
        And having had some involvement with commissioning speakers for corporate shindigs the rewards here are not quite as lavish but are still utterly absurd given how little effort it requires to regurgitate your rote speech to a bunch of men in suits.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Well there needs to be reform of the system so that businesses have workers on their executive boards and their remuneration committees, to approve salaries. It has worked in Germany very well. We need to strengthen shareholders’ powers in companies by ensuring they get a vote and have impact. That would control high pay without the need for regulation or state enforcement of pay ratios.
      - Daniel Speight
        
        Attacking Blair for making money, is beyond the pale.
        
        “Beyond the pale”, what a strange statement.
        
        “Beyond the pale” should surely be used for much more important protests like murdering children and such, rather than a dislike of Blair’s money making .
      - AlanGiles
        
        Good morning Daniel. I must admit I was taken aback by the words “beyond the pale”. I would only use a term like that if somebody posted an allegation of a serious – criminal – nature, that, if true, would have resulted in serious criminal charges.
        
        Just a few weeks ago, for example, a poster on Labour List accused me of being a “p(a)edophile”. Obviously I had to make a formal complaint about this to the editor. Now THAT is what I regard as “beyond the pale”, yet the poster in question was allowed to get away with it (partly I suppose because he was using a non-de-plume). My offence, if offence it was, was to point out that Tony Blair truly “plays the system” in obtaining public money in large doses, while he has a very substantial private fortune. This isn’t said out of envy, but as just a statement of fact, and I am rather surprised that Renie reacted in the way he did.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        It is the politics of envy. He is entitled to it. You might as well attack the entire Cabinet, the Queen, Ed, everyone in the last Cabinet, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and his wife or perhaps attack President Obama and his crew. He is a rich man in need of personal security in America. You might as well say that every rich person in receipt of any form of public money whether it is through a tax cut or a state benefit is greedy. Is that true? That is the logic of your argument. If you want to attack Blair, attack him on his record not on something that he has done legitimately.
      - Winston_from_the_Ministry
        
        Blair hasn’t made any money at all, he has only received it.
        
        There IS a difference you know.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        He is a businessman in his own right. He makes money.
      - Winston_from_the_Ministry
        
        He takes money.
  - Brumanuensis
    
    [MOVED]
- Brumanuensis
  
  Genuine socialists do not salute dictators who murdered trade unionists.
  
  And that’s coming from someone who shares Galloway’s view on the Iraq War.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=564361715 Jeff Maughan
    
    Galloway’s views on the Iraq war were that he wanted the other side to win.
  - jaime taurosangastre candelas
    
    What about dictators who murder people, but not trades unionists?
    
    What is special about being a trade unionist? Are murdered people who are not trades unionists somehow less worthy?
    - Brumanuensis
      
      It’s an extra layer of betrayal, if you will.
  - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
    
    Completely you agree with you but didn’t you argue for Salma Yaqoob to join Labour or hint at it?
    - Brumanuensis
      
      I stand by that. I think Salma has come out of this very well.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        But she leads Respect? Anyway, unless she deselects George Galloway and then expels him from the party then she is not progressive at all.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        Well, we can hope I suppose. However I think the fact she has gone out and openly criticised Galloway’s remarks is highly encouraging.
        
        I also don’t know whether she has the power to expel him or not.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Yes, you are right but actions speak louder than words. She is the leader of that party she can expel him and with every right to. If she does not deselect him and expel him then it shows whose side she is on. She also should stop turning a blind eye to the anti-Semitism and dishonesty which is being promoted in her party.
    - John_Dore
      
      I like the feisty Salma, she has great spirit and would be an asset to labour.
  - John_Dore
    
    Genuine socialists have been marginalised due to their out dated ideas. The moniker socialist is worn as a badge by those of the left.
    - Brumanuensis
      
      Like, er, the Labour Party, John?
      - John_Dore
        
        No the Labour party is leading the polls albeit with a disillusioned electorate. The Labour party is about as socialist as grass. Long may that continue.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        John, have you ever actually spoken to anyone from the Labour Party? I mean, I don’t normally call myself a socialist – I prefer ‘social democrat’ – but I know a lot of people, from various local parties, who are perfectly happy with the label. All the leadership candidates from 2010 called themselves socialists. When did the word become ‘verboten’?
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        I am a socialist. I am a not a socialist in the same way as the Socialist Campaign Group. I believe in the redistribution of wealth and power but I do not believe in attacking the wealthy for being wealthy. I think the Singapore Speech sums up my socialism.
      - Brumanuensis
        
        Indeed Renie. As you’ve very ably illustrated, there are many forms of socialism. I would probably refer to myself as a ‘socialist with a small s’, but in political discussions I prefer social democrat, because it avoids giving the impression I am explicitly anti-capitalist.
        
        I thought the Singapore speech was one of Blair’s better efforts and I agree with Will Hutton as to its implications for a better economy. Interesting that Michael Howard and Michael Portillo saw it in different ways – Howard thought it was Old Labour and Portillo thought it was nicked from Thatcherism.
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        Well, yes, quite. It’s a very interesting. I know Jon Cruddas loves the speech. I touched on this idea of progressive patriotism. I’d happily be called a socialist amongst Labour Party circles if it is represented by the Co-operative movement, Christian Socialist Movement and ‘Early Blair’. But I agree with you that debate-wise, social democrat is probably more appropiate.
    - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
      
      I disagree. Genuine socialists have been marginalised years ago.
Winston_from_the_Ministry

So about half an article looking to make hay out of the comments related to the Assange case and another half of non specific, rather empty advice on how to tackle Galloway.

There are plenty of people who don’t believe the women levelling the accusations, and plenty of reason to doubt their word. The idea that this is automatically “disgusting” does not speak to me of an inquiring or open minded individual.
- Brumanuensis
  
  Gorgeous George said:
  
  “Even taken at its worst, if the allegations made by these two women were true, 100 per cent true, and even if a camera in the room captured them, they don’t constitute rape. At least not rape as anyone with any sense can possibly recognise it. And somebody has to say this.
  
  Let’s take woman A. Woman A met Julian Assange, invited him back to her flat, gave him dinner, went to bed with him, had consensual sex with him. Claims that she woke up to him having sex with her again. This is something which can happen, you know.
  I mean not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion. Some people believe that when you go to bed with somebody, take off your clothes, and have sex with them and then fall asleep, you’re already in the sex game with them.
  
  It might be really bad manners not to have tapped her on the shoulder and said, “do you mind if I do it again?”. It might be really sordid and bad sexual etiquette, but whatever else it is, it is not rape or you bankrupt the term rape of all meaning. . .”
  
  That’s not scepticism; that’s rape apologism.
  - Winston_from_the_Ministry
    
    I agree.
    
    And yet…
    
    “The part of his statement which repulses me most is his “I don’t believe either of them”. ”
    
    George Galloway is a s**t of a man. And if people want to make hay out of his ridiculous comments then fair enough. But to be most disgusted by a position that is not yet proven in any way to be incorrect sounds like towing a line to me.
  - Winston_from_the_Ministry
    
    I agree.
    
    And yet…
    
    “The part of his statement which repulses me most is his “I don’t believe either of them”. ”
    
    George Galloway is a s**t of a man. And if people want to make hay out of his ridiculous comments then fair enough. But to be most disgusted by a position that is not yet proven in any way to be incorrect sounds like towing a line to me.
    - Brumanuensis
      
      It’s true that until the case has been tried, we cannot be certain of Assange’s guilt. However, Galloway went beyond simply disagreeing with the alleged facts of the case. He stated that even if these proved true, it was not rape but ‘bad sexual etiquette’. Which is an appalling thing to say about non-consensual sex, regardless of your views on Assange’s guilt or innocence.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey

Or alternatively, make a positive case for Labour. It serves communities no good by opportunistically denigrating socialist councillors for party-political gain.

From reports by Labour and Respect activists in Bradford the problem was not Galloway’s rhetoric or his self-confidence, but the fact that Labour did not engage with the community as it should. We heard reports from Labour activists about practice in that area- target the supposed ‘community leaders’, and not the people themselves. Knocking on doors of Muslim occupiers, if a woman or youth comes to the door then ask to see the head of the household, assuming he (and it would invariably be a ‘he’) would sort out a house full of votes for Labour. A huge contrast to the practice of Respect, trying to get everyone involved and excited and treating each person as an equal.

This is just another example of how our party policy of ‘elections before all else and at all costs’ is, perversely, losing us support.
- markfergusonuk
  
  I don’t think Respect are by any means free from the accusation of “denigrating socialist councillors for party-political gain”…
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
    
    I’m sure they aren’t, it’s something we all have to overcome if we’re going to escape the cycle of tit for tat reprisals among socialists. ‘Oh you’re Respect party? Then you’re in favour of rape? ‘ ‘Oh you’re Labour? Then you’re in favour of torture?’ etc etc ad infinitum.
- Brumanuensis
  
  It isn’t just muslim occupiers, I heard a similar story once about practices in the West Midlands – although there it was more passive, i.e. the family patriarch would be asked how the house was voting and would say ‘Labour’. If you spoke to the women of the household separately, they’d say ‘Conservative’, as an act of rebellion.
  
  I think Respect are just as guilty of those sorts of practices. Respect does rely disproportionately on muslim voters, although obviously in Bradford West the local Labour candidate’s poor campaigning made it easier for undecideds to vote against him. I don’t really see much need for us to make common cause with Trots. By all means reach out to Respect supporters, but the actual Party itself is beyond the pale.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=564361715 Jeff Maughan
  
  Respect is not a “socialist” party.
markfergusonuk

I don’t think that’s what Rachael is arguing…
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
  
  It looks a lot like she’s advocating turning the debate at local level to be about Galloway’s comments: ‘Every Respect representative, councillor and party activist, must be
  asked which side they are on. Do you they agree with George Galloway or
  Salma Yaqoob on the question of rape and access to justice?’
  
  It just reminds me of when I stood for council. It’s difficult trying to have a debate about a community’s future and the possibilities of a modern municipal socialism when everyone is keen to pile murdered Iraqi civilians at your door. If our goal is to lower voter participation so we win by default then great, go nasty and try to tar Respect activists with that brush (I notice all of the five victories for Respect were above average turnout, albeit one only slightly).
  
  Alternatively, talk to people about Bradford and its future, and why the Labour Party is worth their support.
  - RachaelSaunders
    
    Michael, I agree with local campaigns on local issues. I was once interrupted when giving out balloons and talking to parents at a school gate by George Galloway win a megaphone shouting at local mothers for talking to me because my red scarf and rosette represented the blood of Iraqi children.
    
    Luckily the headmistress saw him off quickly.
    
    My experience of Respect and especially of George Galloway is that he promises the earth, inspires and engages people with his brilliant rhetoric, and then delivers absolutely nothing. He was the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, one of the most exciting, vibrant, beautiful, diverse places in the world. We face immense challenges in Tower Hamlets, with the worst poverty in the UK sitting alongside the greatest wealth. He could have achieved so much as an advocate for us on the world stage, or just in parliament, but he wasn’t interested. He built himself a media career instead. That’s why he has to be beaten. That’s why he has to be held to account when the man he really is shows through.
Brumanuensis

My high opinion of Salma Yaqoob has been rather confirmed by this episode. That aside, I don’t think Galloway’s standing took a hit from dressing up as a cat. It was more the fact that he missed important votes in Parliament, in the process, that detracted from his appeal.

The answer is obvious. Get him on Celebrity Big Brother again at an opportune moment.
- RachaelSaunders
  
  Hi Brumanuensis, I disagree. His lack of attendance in parliament was an issue long before Big Brother. People who had been committed supporters turned away at that point because they had previously been proud of him;during Big Brother he embarrassed them.
telemachus

The key here is to keep to the fore his disgusting statements on women
Part of his success was his charisma and appeal to women
He has lost this but only if we remind them frequently
Trumpeting in leaflets, posters and the Bradford press is important
http://twitter.com/DavidBeeson2 David Beeson

Brilliant summary of the man. A demagogue, his only way in at Bradford West was created for him by complacency on the part of Labour – so your point about how Labour has to behave is spot on too.

But I hope that Bradford West wakes up quickly to the fact that, apart from the name of his party, the only respect he shows is for his own career.
NT86

I always viewed Respect as some kind of loony Islamist fringe party which would defend Galloway through thick and thin. But with Salma Yaqoob’s condemnation hopefully they’ll smarten up, boot Galloway out (because he enjoys stirring trouble) and distance themselves from the Islamic elements in the party. Be a leftist party but with purely secular leanings.

The man is a disingenuous troll who’ll leave Bradford West as bad as it is right now. I cannot see him holding on there because he’s clearly in politics for media exposure and to satisfy his enormous ego. Claims to be a socialist but is anything but. Even in 2010 when the national tide was against Labour, Rushanara Ali managed to take Bow and Bethnal Green back to the party and if there’s a swing away from the coalition in 2015, Bradford West will most likely go back to Labour. While MP’s from smaller parties (Caroline Lucas) or who are independents (Lady Sylvia Hermon) work really hard to cement themselves in their seats and try to make an impression in Westminster, Galloway lacks those qualities. Aside from talking about wars in the Middle East, when has he ever spoken about problems regarding the spending cuts, the NHS, education, or welfare reforms hitting the disabled?
markfergusonuk

In fairness, the Respect councillors were elected because of Galloway, not because of their party affiliation – so they should have an opinion on his actions
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
  
  Bradford has a lot of newly politicized people who otherwise wouldn’t have voted. Our strategy should not be to go ‘you’re wrong, the guy who persuaded you politics is worth engaging with is just as bad as the rest of us. Vote Labour!’
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
  
  Very simplistic anyway. ‘elected because of Galloway’? From the reports we heard from our own activists it seems that the most important factor was the politicization of swathes of ordinary people who had never been excited about politics before, particularly the young and women, who went from disengagement to committed activism almost overnight. That’s an achievement and rather than being one we should try to beat down by smearing those people with the Galloway rape brush let’s learn how to electrify a campaign in the same way.
markfergusonuk

We need to campaign more effectively – we do not need to campaign like George Galloway
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
  
  No, an exciting, engaging, memorable campaign based around local issues and a set of firm principles is not what we want at all. What we need is suits, vague platitudes, and the fervently held belief that everyone else is even worse and can do even less than us. That’s the Labour way.
  - markfergusonuk
    
    If you think Galloway’s campaigns rep[resent:
    
    “an exciting, engaging, memorable campaign based around local issues and a set of firm principles”
    
    Then I’d suggest that the Labour Party may not be the right place for you…
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey
      
      That’s what the Respect campaign sounds like from the reports coming from our activists. Re-read this-
      
      http://labourlist.org/2012/04/bradford-west-a-view-from-the-ground/
      
      Does the Respect campaign there sound like one we would have been ashamed to own ourselves? What about Tom Mann’s comments about how the Respect campaign was superior to ours, does he deserve to be shunted out?
      
      Even where we’re ‘successful’ it is a success built on sand. I remember ringing my family on election day in May 2010 to make sure they’d voted- ‘yeah we all voted for the Labour bloke, don’t worry’. The candidate was a woman and none knew her name. Nobody expects anything from Labour, out voters just go through the motions. I’ve seen it in general elections, assembly elections, referendums, council elections, the police commissioner elections. We fail to learn these lessons at our own peril. Or maybe I should stop saying ‘our’, rip up the only party-card I’ve ever had, because I’m not going to pretend that what is advocated here is anything but a dead end of apathy and negativity?
      - markfergusonuk
        
        The Labour Party obviously needs to better connect with voters. We do that or we die as a political party – it’s that serious.
        
        But the choice is NOT how things are now vs be more like George Galloway – that way lies Demagoguery and madness
  - RachaelSaunders
    
    Hi Michael. I say at the end of my piece here that holding Galloway to account for his appalling behaviour won’t be enough to win an election without a positive alternative vision from Labour. That’s absolutely the case.
    
    Roger: I also think you’re right that he believes his supporters will agree with him on this issue. He also thought his supporters would be really impressed by him in Big Brother. He takes big risks and sometimes gets it badly wrong. I think that this is one of those times.
    
    You may see this as a guardianista niche issue. I think you’re wrong. Every woman I’ve spoken to, including women in Tower Hamlwts who supported him in the past, feels very strongly the contempt with which he speaks of an experience many of us can identify with.
Brumanuensis

Oh do grow up John. You’re in no position to lecture other people about politeness.
- John_Dore
  
  I’m not talking about politeness. I am fully aware that I can be one of th least polite people around.
  
  What I dont do though is make it personal when I have lost the argument. The situation is that Alan, is railing against some very serious points raised by Renie.
  - AlanGiles
    
    What points John?. He says that I am “envious” of Blair, yet when I point out that a man who has a personal fortune of £30 million, is claiming the maximum pension for his tenure as PM, and accepts free security etc it is “beyond the pale”. Surly I am entitled to voice the opinion that the man is greedy, or is that too distressing for Renie and you?
    
    This from a chap, who, in his previous incarnation wanted to time limit benefits to JSA claimants. This in itself was suprising since he had told us a few weeks ago his “little brother” was unable to find work.
    
    If some people grudge the poorest people less than £70 p.w., how can you possibly justify multi-millionaires claiming money they don’t need?
    
    And John, please don’t try starting to whip up more arguments.
    - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
      
      Alan, on the point about Blair, he is a former Prime Minister and therefore it is the responsibility of government to protect him. There are many rich Cabinet ministers, even Ed Miliband, all have security paid for by the taxpayer. If you want it to be privatised then fair enough that is your view but it is not greed to have personal security as a former PM.
      I do have a little brother who is 2 years old. As it happens, I think it would be excellent if everyone got given a job after a year unemployed (at the very maximum). That would be great! If that is time-limiting JSA to a year, so be it but I think most Labour people would agree.
      - AlanGiles
        
        If your brother is 2 years old he has a long time to go before he needs worry about unemployment.
        
        So it is OK to curtail benefits to the very poorest in society, but we must, at all costs, have a botomless pit for multimillionaires who happen to be politicians. Is that what you are saying?
      - http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh
        
        I am sorry but I never said that my brother needed work, I don’t know what you mean?
        How is giving people a job, curtailin g their benefits?
http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy

Please, please, please don’t try and make the semantics of rape (and Swedish legal procedure and international extradition treaties and diplomatic extraterritoriality) the key doorstep issue in Bradford West – it won’t end well….

In fact you couldn’t have a clearer example of how out of touch the metropolitan Guardian-reading classes are with our supposed core voters than the assumption that these issues rather than jobs and schools and the NHS are what will drive voters to reject Galloway.

Galloway’s market is about as niche as it is possible to have in British politics (given that there are only a tiny handful of seats whose peculiar demographics make him electable) but as both the Bradford West and Bethnal Green results show he understands it far better than we do.

His pronouncements on rape and Assange are like everything he does carefully calibrated with that niche market in mind and indeed make little sense unless you recognise that he is only interested in what that niche thinks and cares nothing whatsoever for the wider left and feminism.

If anything the masterful (literally – look at all those aggressively masculine arm movements in the video) way he manages to denigrate the loose morals of western women, excuse the lapses of men who lacking his own and his voters strong religious beliefs are so easily entrapped by their corrupt wiles and links it all into the vast American-Zionist conspiracy can only have strengthened his position.

Bringing those voters back to Labour requires us not to battle him on his chosen communalist/identity politics ground but on that of who can really deliver jobs and growth and services.
- http://twitter.com/waterwards dave stone
  
  If Labour gets it right on delivering jobs growth and services for ordinary people, and is able to credibly articulate those priorities, the Galloway result will be a flash in pan.
  
  However, the scale of the task is illustrated by a notable specific: in 2006, Bradford was judged to have the second worst schools in the country. This led the late ex-Bradford West MP Marsha Singh to comment:
  
  “”I am flabbergasted as we have been promised year-on-year things will improve.
  “If children are failing at primary school what chance have they got in secondary school and when they leave school and enter the working world?”
  
  The matter has still not been resolved, causing in Galloway to arrange a meeting with Education Secretary Michael Gove.
  
  The perception is that Labour had its chance and failed. And now we want a second chance. While character assasination may be fun, of itself, it won’t do the job. We need, as suggested by Michael Carey above, “an exciting, engaging, memorable campaign based around local issues and a set of firm principles.”
  - http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy
    
    Plus Galloway’s character appears to be un-assassinateable – while his appeal is much narrower than Boris Johnson’s he can similarly turn what would be career-ending gaffes for anyone else into triumphant displays of his supposed authenticity as an anti-politician.
    
    And we did have 13 years in government to sort out Bradford’s schools and seem to have failed to do so.
    
    So we need to not just make promises but to show proper contrition for our past mistakes and explain how it is that we went wrong if we are to be taken seriously by voters there and elsewhere.
http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy

But you are assuming that the women he appeals to are liberal Guardian-reading types and not women who cover a whole spectrum of beliefs from ultra-traditionalist Muslims through to left-wing atheist feminists.

Context is everything – while he may appear to have been condoning Assange’s behaviour what he was actually doing was denouncing western sexual immorality without which Assange would hardly be meeting unchaperoned females at parties and being invited back to their apartments to negotiate the limits of consensual sex.

And if this loses him the support of whatever handful of left-wing feminists who haven’t already drunk the Assange Kool-Aid and aren’t also busily engaged in redefining rape to save their hero from the horrors of the Swedish justice system it may greatly strengthen his support from more traditionalist voters where it actually matters in Bradford West.

(there may also be a coded transgressive subtext there for younger Muslims who are not 100% committed to their parents line on sexual morality – but I am damned if I am going to re-watch his repulsive performance again to try and identify it).
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116515833 Michael Carey

While the comments section is restricting- in reply to

‘ The Labour Party obviously needs to better connect with voters. We do that or we die as a political party – it’s that serious.

But the choice is NOT how things are now vs be more like George Galloway – that way lies Demagoguery and madness’

If it’s that serious then we should not be toying with the idea of going negative against Galloway. Respect activists and keen voters were those previously apathetic youths and women, the people who’s votes we’d always expected to be delivered to us by whatever ‘community leader’ or household head can influence them. The way I see it, we have two choices:

1. Attack the party and the person who made them interested in politics. Let them sink back into apathy as our people spend their time grilling these newly interested Respect politicos on whether they endorse Galloway’s comments on rape. Give them a taste of what we have experienced by people always looking to shove Blair down our throats. Enforce the lesson that political engagement is disheartening, negative, and irrelevent to their everyday lives.

2. We could actually stand for something worth getting excited about and put the effort into making people think we’re worth it.

It seems like Galloway won by being a crusader versus a pack of identit-kit politicians. We’ll not escape the ‘you’re all the same’ comments by trying to drag Galloway’s image down to our level (in the eyes of the average Bradford voter).
- RachaelSaunders
  
  Hi Michael,
  
  I have another post on here on methods of campaigning which I think covers some of your points.
  
  I think your choice is artificial. Voters inBradford, especially women, will be unhappy with what their MP is doing with the public platform they gave him. Eg: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/aug/27/george-galloway-rape-bradford?INTCMP=SRCH
  
  It is right that Labour holds him to account. It is also vital that Labour engages voters in developing an alternative vision for the city, as per the last sentence in my piece above, and as set out in my previous piece on the topic:
RachaelSaunders

Apologies, the Guardianista comment is aimed at Roger not Michael
Brumanuensis

Hi Rachel, I agree Big Brother was probably embarrassing to his constituents, but I do seem to recall that one of the biggest faux-pas he committed, was missing a vote on Crossrail in the process.

But otherwise, I agree, it was the beginning of the end for Galloway in Tower Hamlets.
http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh

The way Galloway camapigns and the way Respect campaigns is sickening. Their anti-Semitism, which has been condoned by Respect’s leadership, which they operated in Bethnal Green. Galloway targeted Oona King because she was a black woman MP representing a seat with a lot of Muslims. He whipped up racial tensions and condoned anti-Semitism in his campaign. Similarly in Bradford West, he lied about Imran Hussain not being Muslim making lies up. The idea that Labour should emulate Galloway makes my stomach turn.
http://twitter.com/redrenie24 Renie Anjeh

Surely someone should write a letter calling for George Galloway to be expelled from Respect.
Liberanos

As any feminist should say, “Woman with scarf on head has foot in chains.”
ThomasCartwright

It is not rape that Assange is wanted to be questioned about.
jackanded

Very useful piece and helps all of us in Bradford trying to fight the man. Mind you, Galloway seems to be destroying himself very effectively without our help! Interesting to watch the disagreements with Galloway from the group of Respect councillors elected here in Bradford. Watch this space.

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