‘A case for hope amid hard times’

In all my time following politics, yesterday was up there as one of the most intense days I can think of existentially for the future direction of the Labour Party.

Two senior figures gone from Downing Street, the Scottish Labour leader asks the PM to step down, the PM receives support from all members of the cabinet and comes out swinging to win back some love from the PLP. He walks on, for now.

After Prime Minister’s Questions last week, it seemed completely inevitable that the problems would roll over into the following weekend and beyond. So, understandably, I really did not know what to expect for my trip back to Manchester to cover the crucial by-election in Gorton and Denton, that was dominating the news only two weeks ago.

For full disclosure, this is a by-election that I feel more personally invested in than others. I am a young (at present) lad who is proud to say they grew up in Greater Manchester. Admittedly on the other side to Gorton and Denton in my home town of Bolton. But I have grown up with the same Bee Network buses that take me to the same City centre, to browse in the same Mancunian record shops or drink in the same Mancunian bars as any individual who may wish to spend their time in the same was as I do when I am home, and lives in Gorton and Denton.

As I boarded the train at London Euston on Friday, I was nervous to go back. With everything that is going on in Westminster, I was (and remain) especially concerned that Labour may have already lost this by-election to a populist party preying on the disgruntled nature of a society that may have given up on any idea of hope for the current political system. A society that may be now more easily led to the conclusion that torching all of our political norms and standards is the only way to get anything meaningful done.

READ MORE: ‘Someone to bring them together’: The Gorton and Denton by-election campaign from the ground…

The idea that this could be a potential reality is difficult to think of, especially when the most dominant of the populist positions sits out on the far-right.

I got interested in politics first and foremost as a teenage lad who was brought up to oppose racism. My dad gave me a book by Jules Archer on the civil rights struggle when I was about 11 called ‘They Had A Dream’. The interest I had in civil rights as a child led me to where I am today.

It made me believe that politics mattered, because bad politics that sowed division and hatred into society (often where there is some profit to be made for someone else as a result) can and does exist. To choose a life of ignorance away from this fact would be to make the wrong choice and would be certainly far from blissful.

I could see the direction of travel this country was on under the last government. I saw politicians on the right consistently scapegoating immigrants as the only cause of the many problems they refused to solve, and elements of the media that went along with them for the ride. That direction has been threaded by some to the point where a party on the far-right is genuinely threatening to take a seat in the city I love most.

If, due to the ongoing events in Westminster, the Labour membership in Gorton and Denton had looked dejected, miserable and found themselves asking ‘what’s the point?’ I would have been upset, but I would have understood. When things seem so chaotic, I can appreciate the concept that morale takes a hit as a result.

But that was not what I found when I arrived at the campaign in Manchester.

There was music, Labour figures from across the country, a membership that had travelled far and wide to be there. A room not just full, but over capacity, with people having to wait outside just to get in. There was energy. The buzz of Manchester’s politically red bees was so clear that anyone there could see.

The speeches brought applause and cheers of belief and hope from the crowd. There was no sense of doom and gloom. There was no fear that this was the end. This was a campaign with a mission, and the party was only just getting started.

As much as I can try to give you a sense of how completely positive this campaign was, I will of course be met by the nay-sayers (many of them on that cesspit of a social media platform X) who will suggest I am fabricating the extent to which the vibes were so strong amongst Labour members in Gorton and Denton.

To quote The Isley Brothers/Wham: If you were there, you’d know.

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Ultimately, as you can read in my full report, I think that anyone disheartened as a Labour member at the moment should find the time to go to Gorton and Denton and join the campaign. The Westminster-centric politics of ‘who’s up, who’s down’ simply is not entering the situation in the Manchester battle of unity against division, for that issue is being deemed far more important for campaigners.

Of course, the situation in Westminster is not completely irrelevant to by-elections, just as it will be important in local and devolved ones later this year too. Absolutely, there needs to be some real culture changes to the party and political structure that currently exists if Labour should want to succeed. There may have to be some radical decisions made on policy direction. Some intense thought that goes into the approach of how to reconnect with the general public.

But while the necessary overhaul occurs, while things may not be perfect, there are still members of the Labour movement who will give all they can in order to try and make sure that the politics of division does not win. That is important. That is why I am asking that if you are reading this you do not give up.

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To ask you to keep the faith, does not mean to suggest you should support any one individual, faction or otherwise as a Labour member. I wholeheartedly believe a broadchurch is a good thing. I think, when engaged with properly, it allows for different minds and talents to collaborate in partnerships towards succession.

To ask you to keep the faith does not mean to endorse all that we have witnessed since we came into power in 2024.

Rather, it means to encourage you to realise that the Labour movement is far bigger than this moment. It is an institution built on values of equality and rights. On bringing people together that oppose racism, hatred, fear and division. That wishes to see all people socially and economically supported, not for any reason at its core other than simply because they are people. That will fight to make this a reality. 

And if you want to see that in real time, I urge you, take a train to Manchester, see the campaign for yourself.

Go to the city where we call each other ‘love’, because I assure you, there are people there fighting to protect that…

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