In writing this article, I will begin with the extremely obvious: it has been, and continues to be, a crazy few days within the Labour Party. We’ve seen two senior figures from the Prime Minister’s team in Downing Street resign due to the ongoing criticism related to Peter Mandelson’s appointment and the Scottish Labour leader has asked for the Prime Minister’s resignation. This is an issue that is still very far from its conclusion in Westminster – as I say, I’m starting with the obvious.
So, as I boarded the train at London Euston on Friday, I was nervous to go back to my home city of Manchester to cover a crucial by-election for the party. ‘What would I be greeted with when I arrive in Manchester?’ I thought, having last been in the city at Christmas which already feels like years ago. ‘Would there be masses of flags up in Gorton? Would Reform have a strong presence in Levenshulme? Would it be clear, that with all that has gone on, with all that is going on, Labour is going…to lose?’.
I was due to attend Labour’s ‘Big Campaign Day’, which took place on Saturday. Whatever I was expecting, I was greeted with the opposite.
‘The members seemed, dare I say, positive?’
As I arrived in the car park of a small community centre 20 minutes before the campaign day was due to begin, there was already a significant crowd of people waiting to enter outside. I made my way into the centre where party organisers were already busy, encouraging the vast array of members old and young to sign into the session from one of the many QR codes blue tacked to the wall. I had to join a relatively busy queue to speak to someone, to tell them I was here on behalf of LabourList to cover the day.
After making my presence known to the local party activists in charge of the day, I was taken through to the main room to set up, as members behind me start being issued in. The room was filling quickly.
As I leaned in to introduce myself to campaign organisers so we could hear each other over the noise of the bustling room, I picked up the sense of normality with which they were approaching this situation.
I, a London-based reporter caught up in constant checks of the ever-moving situation there, had not anticipated the possibility that the politics of Westminster had not made its way up the M1 and sunk its claws into the morale of every Labour member in Greater Manchester. However, not only was the campaign hub full, but the members seemed, dare I say, positive?
I begin to set up my tripod and camera to grab some interviews when all of a sudden, I hear the strum of guitar strings from the other end of the hall, coming from the speakers. The noise quietens down from members who turn to face the front, as Tom Hingley of the Inspiral Carpets is introduced to do a live performance. This is how it feels to be Labour here at the moment.
This was not the doom and gloom I had expected. This was a room of Labour members invigorated by the fight. A group of activists looking forward to being out on the door step. They had not just come from Manchester either, but all over the country to be there. As time went on and I sang the lyrics to Saturn 5, I almost forgot I was working. I was enjoying myself. It was all very confusing.
Hingley’s musical accompaniment settled and the MP for Stretford and Urmston Andrew Western and political lead on the by-election then introduced speakers Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Former Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and candidate Angeliki Stogia to give rousing speeches to the audience, with attendance now overflowing beyond the room.
‘Some people are born here, some people are drawn here’
By-election candidate Angeliki Stogia followed speeches from Burnham and Rayner by talking of her own story. Moving to Manchester from Greece over thirty years ago, Stogia opened her speech with the line ‘some people are born here, some people are drawn here’. It was clear that she recognised her position in this by-election as representing much more than delivering a seat for Parliament, but rather an indication of whether the division pursued by the likes of Reform could be defeated.
The Mayor had also rallied support for Stogia in his words, telling the audience “I’ve known Angeliki for 15 plus years, we’ve worked together, we helped to build the bee network… we’ve got a candidate we can be proud of who knows this constituency better than anybody else in this by-election and remember that on the doorstep today!”
This was an important endorsement to witness, following the very public fall out within the Labour Party over the fact that Burnham had requested to be considered for the candidacy, only to be blocked by the NEC. There was no sense in Burnham’s tone or attitude, however, that he was in any way hurt by this decision, or faking support for the candidate. The Mayor was loud and proud in his advocacy of Stogia, encouraging the room to join his approach.
“Be proud. Go to those doorsteps with your heads held high, your shoulders up. Be proud. Let’s be…one Labour team. Forget everything else going on we’re one team…we’re united in wanting to see what we’ve built here staying here and defending it and never letting into this city region the politics of poison that the others are trying to bring. We’ve never had it here, we’re never going to have it here.” Burnham said to huge cheers from the crowd.
Rayner’s speech was just as impassioned, urging Labour members to ‘continue the message of hope’ on the doorsteps. Rayner made comparisons to the party as like a ‘family’, nodding to the ongoing turbulence in Westminster by suggesting that all families ‘have their moments’ but that the most important thing on the mind was to unite behind delivering for ‘the people that deserve better’.
I noted to many in the room that I had not heard three speeches from anyone in the Labour movement in a long time, that I would deem so genuinely moving. All three of the speakers spoke with such passion and determination to win in Gorton and Denton. It cut through, not only to me, but to the crowd of members there. I realised that with each speech, focus drew more intently on the task at hand that members had shown up to campaign for. To get Angeliki Stogia elected to parliament.
There were references in the speeches from Rayner and Burnham to the issues in Westminster, but this did not dominate the message they wanted to communicate. They wanted to drive more of a buzz into an already energised audience, and they succeeded. Westminster, was not deterring the mission in Gorton and Denton. I realised I had left the bubble.
‘The beating heart of the Labour movement’
I had chance to speak with Stogia in the campaign hub and out on the doorstep. She was both extremely determined and grateful for the support she had received from an array of high profile Labour figures.
The candidate accurately described the campaign as ‘the beating heart of the Labour movement’, saying she was ‘delighted’ with the support, recognising that she was receiving this because there is ‘so much at stake’. She told me that the campaign was ‘on fire’ at the moment.
I noted the fact that Stogia had a record of delivery in the area already, unlike opposition parties’ candidates for the by-election and so felt it was a good chance to ask her what she felt the people of Gorton and Denton needed most from a Member of Parliament. When I was asking this question, I was anticipating the response to be an endorsement of particular Labour policies, perhaps surrounding the cost of living, or discussing the success of Labour’s policies in Greater Manchester.
Instead, Stogia answered “The people of this constituency need someone to bring them together,” demonstrating once again the importance of the key message around her by-election campaign. As much as policy is important, the need to show that hope can defeat hate in one of the UK’s key cities is clearly the priority.
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One of the key lines of the campaign is to show that Manchester is ‘A city, united’, making clever work of the footballing culture. A Labour member on the campaign trail who had travelled from outside of the city to be there told me just how surprised they were in the way that appealing to the Manchester identity landed so strongly with residents, unlike in other constituencies they had experienced.
Stogia’s experience as a Manchester councillor definitely gave her, and the hundreds of Labour members campaigning for her, strong talking points while speaking to residents on the doorsteps.
One moment I will not forget.
The rain poured down heavily while out on the campaign. Walking with Stogia, we continued to discuss the general vibe when speaking with residents.
Stogia told me “things have been positive on the doorstep” adding that “we’re having some tough conversations… we’re having some good conversations,” stating that the main goal was to listen to residents concerns and find the main issues that matter to people.
As I approached doors with the candidate, the reception from residents was naturally not as positive as the atmosphere inside the campaign hub, though once again my expectations as to why were misjudged.
In the conversations I listened to, the ongoing Westminster scandal of Mandelson’s appointment was not coming up. Rather, residents that were disgruntled focused more on the general lack of change they were feeling.
Equally, displeasure with the government position on Palestine came up several times in the area we were door knocking. This is something the Greens will likely try to seize on in the area much more than Reform, which brings me to another point I noticed while in Gorton and Denton this weekend.
I did not see anywhere near the number of Reform posters in windows as I did ones advocating support for the Greens. As I turned my first corner on the doorstep, Green members were out door knocking in the same street as Labour members. Both parties clearly feel there is an opportunity to beat Reform in this by-election, but whether that splits the vote remains to be seen.
However, there was one conversation that I witnessed between Stogia and a resident that I will never forget. The conversation began with venting about the policies of Starmer’s government, saying they believed they had voted for change and the government had not shown that. She said she could not get behind Starmer. Once again, not because of Mandelson. She had been disappointed with some of Labour’s language and positioning on immigration. That disappointment shone through in her emotional response on the doorstep.”
This resident had moved to the UK when they were a child, from Bangladesh. All they know is Manchester, they told myself and Stogia. They were becoming scared to leave their home and scared for their children’s welfare due to the rhetoric around immigration. As they continued to discuss their frustrations, tears began to fill her eyes. She was afraid of what was to come, had placed faith in Labour to deal with it and felt that, at the moment, her and her family were not being protected.
Stogia, as someone also not born in the UK, became emotional too. She understood the residents frustrations, and took the time to explain to them why she was the candidate to stop this anti-immigrant rhetoric and to fight for unity.
It was a tough conversation, for both. But the resident left it feeling heard, and said they would now consider voting Labour.
The Labour Party is more than this moment
What I learnt from my experience of the Gorton and Denton campaign feels very important for disheartened Labour members to think about.
I would have to be mad to suggest that the party does not find itself in a particularly difficult moment at present, with speculation growing about what is next for the leadership and culture of the party as I type every letter of this report. But what I saw in Gorton and Denton was clear.
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The Labour Party is more than this moment. It is a party full of different people, all who believe it is the right vehicle for the changes they wish to see in society. There is a world beyond Westminster, a world that cares less for who is up and who is down.
To quote the great George Harrison, ‘all things must pass’.
If you want to experience a campaign of positivity, if you feel you need to remember why you joined the party, then come to Gorton and Denton.
Get yourself to Manchester, after all, we do things differently here…
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