February 12, 2024 - 7:00am
The Rochdale by-election should have been a cakewalk for Labour, but controversial comments made by its candidate have thrown the party into a tailspin. In recordings released a few days before the vote. Azhar Ali discussed the 7 October attacks and said that Israel “allowed […] that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want”. He has been roundly condemned and issued a rapid apology — but the Labour campaign remains a mess.
It is too late to stand down the candidate. Ballot papers are printed and postal votes have already been sent out. Labour is now faced with repudiating its own candidate, as the Tories have called for, or battling on through the headlines for another few days before then having another troublesome MP in Parliament. It’s turned an easy, 10,000-majority by-election into an embarrassment.
This will refresh Labour’s biggest fears about the coming general election. It is a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong, whether on a local or national scale. Candidates can slip up under the full glare of an election, and issues previously missed in vetting can pop up. Too many of these, and it starts to look like an institutional problem which might drag the whole party down. These events will likely make Labour even more risk-averse as we tick down to the election.
The incident also highlights one of Keir Starmer’s weaknesses. He has set out his stall by tackling the cloud of antisemitism that hung around the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. His pitch to voters has been that he fixed the party and can now focus on the country. A candidate in a prominent election being caught making comments such as Ali’s throws that into doubt. Problems still lurk within Starmer’s Labour, despite the work he has done.
At the same time, his response to the Rochdale incident will likely mean a further fight with the Labour Left. Many are already incensed by the way he has turned on the previous leadership — withdrawing the whip from key figures and supposedly stitching up selections to edge out Corbynite factions. They have also criticised him for not calling on Israel to observe a ceasefire, with more than 50 Labour MPs breaking the whip to support one in Parliament. Disciplining Ali now could cause another conflagration. Starmer has few easy choices available.
Beyond the party politics, however, the Rochdale controversy raises bigger questions. Ali is an experienced politician, has served on Lancashire County Council and has been awarded an OBE for his service. Saying this sort of thing is no mere gaffe, but instead a sign of conspiratorial thinking. It is shocking that he would hold these views.
The response to 7 October has revealed that these views are more widespread than most people would have believed. Snapshots from Rochdale have shown that Palestine has become a major issue in the electoral battle for a northern English town. Labour leaders have been harangued, while George Galloway has built a base of support in the contest too. Seen in this light, Ali’s comments are more than a headache for Labour: they are a symptom of a growing prevalence of hardline anti-Israeli sentiments.
The internal Labour issues have not come from nowhere. A growing bloc of voters and activists have animus against Israel as part of their core political beliefs, and local parties are often happy to turn a blind eye to this when it brings electoral advantages. This could well be a lingering issue not just for Labour, and not just in Rochdale, but for our politics as a whole.
John Oxley is a corporate strategist and political commentator. His Substack is Joxley Writes.
Mr_John_Oxley
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SubscribeI’d be more interested in their view on tolerating ongoing local child rape.
I suspect the MSM will continue to fail miserably to give this issue the high profile it has always deserved.
Newsnight too , with two films being made of the take down of Prince Andrew but they ignored the Rotherham scandal completely
Given the high Muslim population of Rochdale, focusing negatively on Israel will be more popular than focusing on their own negative behaviours.
The news broke this morning that a girl in Rochdale was raped by three children – the oldest was fourteen.
Youngest
No oldest
And not a single one of the handful of men convicted of e.g. the Rotherham rapes had any ‘hate crime’ charges brought against them – despite them using terms such as ‘white s lags’ when describing their victims, or branding some with the letter M.
Had the ethnicities of victim and perpetrator been reversed they 100% certainly would have, and their sentences would be doubled.
Antisemitism that dare not speak its name? Is it just a built in fact of the ideologies on display here? What are the common denominators? As it is it appears Labour needs to demonstrate more commitment in fundamental underlying beliefs of democracy.
An anti-Semite in the Labour Party? Surely not!
The claims of AS in Labour were based on what exactly? Give me your top three.
The claims that it was rife were a scam.
I haven’t checked but I think Jeremy Corbyn visited a memorial celebrating the Munich terrorist attack, a Jew needed protection at Labour conference, and Jewish Labour MPs bemoaned antisemitism in the party.
Thanks. Saved me a job.
Read the EHRC report maybe.
Labour councillors denying the Holocaust seems pretty big
They got their outriders in the alphabet people to smear and attempt to bring down the EHRC on the back of it.
How about this doozy by Corbyn (his words, not mine) Zionists “don’t understand English irony” despite having lived in the country for a very long time.
So not only is he using the word Zionist as a euphemism for all Jews, he is suggesting that they are not really English, they have just lived in the country a long time and they don’t understand English ways.
TBF it’s a little unreasonable to expect someone as magnificently stupid as Jeremy Corbyn to grasp the kind of nuance you describe.
I believe in free speech. Ali has not said anything anti-Semitic. Israel was warned that Hamas were about to attack. The belief that the attack was preventable is indeed widespread. I am more concerned that he has been leant on by Labour to retract than by what he said.
Personally, I would rather see Galloway back in parliament, as he is one of the greatest parliamentarians and public speakers of my lifetime. Somebody, apart from Andrew Bridgen, needs to rattle the Uniparty.
It is incredibly anti-semitic to deny the Israelis the possibility of incompetence, that any failure in Israeli intelligence to prevent an attack must be a perfidious tactic of the jooooos. The FBI missed warnings about a bunch of Saudis learning to fly jumbos in 2001; failures happen, warnings are ignored. But of course the conspiratorial mind that thinks everyone else is the “uniparty” can’t see that, and conspiracy theories always end up blaming the Jews, so they can’t see anti-Semitism either.
You are conflating Israel with Judaism.
Of course I am conflating the Jewish state with Judaism, that’s the whole point. Jews are descendants of Israel, the clue is in the name.
So, in your book, any criticism of the actions of the state of Israel is anti-Semitic?
When it comes from people who never criticise the slaughter by Syria, Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah then yes, yes my book says criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.
You need privileged knowledge of the entire life history of a person’s speech utterances to enshrine that as a moral principle. It doesn’t seem viable.
You’re over-thinking it. Jew haters tell you loud and clear that they hate Jews, it’s not something they are trying to hide.
Come on the monomania that activates anti-zionism is answer enough.
I don’t recall the West rushing their navies’ fleets to protect Syria/Iran/Hamas/Hezbollah’s “slaughter”, or flying them vast quantities of weapons to drop on their hapless victims, or block any criticism of them in the UNSC.
Westerners are perfectly entitled to be more vociferous in their criticism of Israel’s behaviour; they’re literally paying for it.
In what way is, say, Ireland literally paying for Israel’s behaviour? If Ireland make no comment at all about the destruction of Aleppo, but refuse to even shake the hand of Israeli basketball players out of concern for Gaza that is a double standard that I put down to rank anti-Semitism
Because the Irish are not refusing to shake their hands on the basis of the Israelis being Jews, are they? They’re refusing to shake their hands on the basis that they’re Israelis.
That is a distinction without a difference. Irish people don’t have an animus towards Syria or Iran, but they do towards Israel. It’s a double standard, common in Europe that amounts to prejudice.
I very much doubt the Irish people in question have any animus towards non-Zionist Jews. Do you have any evidence that they do?
Ergo, this (purported) animus has nothing to do with the Israelis being Jews, but because they are Zionists – and almost certainly members of the IDF – who are currently slaughtering tens of thousands of women and children†, and base their nationalism on ethno-supremacism.
There were plenty of people who refused to shake the hands of White South African sportsmen during the apartheid era, but it wasn’t because they were anti-White.
†Men too, but for some reason we don’t care about them…. muh patriarchy, I guess.
I suspect that you – who call the Hebrew scriptures the Old Testament – think any Jew who has the temerity to support Israeli self-defence is a “Zionist” and therefore bad. People love dead Jews, don’t they? Personally I have no problem with the IDF rescuing hostages by any means possible but, hey, you do you.
I refer to the “Hebrew Scriptures” as the Old Testament because i) they are the Old Testament, and ii) because the vast majority of Westerners will have a copy of them, in their native tongue, at home; they’re unlikely to have the Torah.
And I’m afraid that according to the UN, occupying powers do not have the right to “self defence”.
And so far the IDF has killed far more of the hostages† than it has rescued, suggesting the Hannibal Doctrine is alive and well.
†admittedly the IDF soldiers probably assumed the three shirtless escaped hostages waving a white flag they recently murdered were unarmed Palestinian kids rather than their own countrymen.
Most of the criticism comes from demographics that have a clear ethno-religious hatred of jews and expresses it vociferously. The rest comes from leftists who march behind religious nutters.
It’s strange that on one hand we’re told that “the Jews” are the heirs of the ancient Israelites (yes, Falasha/Ashkenazi/Donmeh/Sephardic people are as Semitic as Mizrahim, apparently) and yet we’re to ignore what the Old Testament explicitly tells us about the ancient Israelites’ intentions towards the other peoples who just happened to be occupying “their” land before God decided to give it to them.
There are plenty of Jews who criticise Zionism in general and Israel in particular (I’m one of them) so there is nothing intrinsically “Anti-Semitic” about either… despite what the (Israeli-founded) IHRA might tell you.
Who says the comment of Israel allowing the attack to take place couldn’t encompass that incompetence? It’s just the screeching media response that’s telling us he absolutely, positively, meant it was a conspiracy. The quote given here doesn’t support that assertino.
You are clutching at straws …
There are, of course, a few regimes around the world that aren’t beyond sacrificing their own people in false flag operations. However, we’d be hard pushed to find two countries that put a higher price on the lives of their own people than the USA and Israel.
Perhaps that’s why these 9/11 and Gaza conspiracy theories are so ridiculous.
You can’t possibly be this naive
Indeed, I am not.
But, since you raised the subject and got personal, you would appear to be.
US governments routinely get “their” soldiers killed for ends that have nothing to do with the interests of the country as a whole; Korea, Vietnam, the invasion of Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan (and, latterly, Syria).
You genuinely believe that Netanyahu and his far-Right colleagues wouldn’t sacrifice a thousand of their citizens for the excuse to slaughter 20 times (and counting) the number of Amalek?
History is littered with examples of politicians sacrificing their people to further their goals.
But no, Netanyahu and Biden et al would never do such a thing! Anti-Semitism!
You know nothing about me or what I believe. I haven’t commented on any of those things.
Nor have I called you anti-Semitic.
Well I know you wrote this:
And ?
In what way do you disagree with that ? Israel’s actions indicate just how much they value the life of their citizens. Hamas’ suggest the opposite.
And how is that a statement about anti-Semitism ?
Do you in fact have any factual comments to make ?
Presumably then, Americans who believe the 911 attacks were allowed to happen are Anti-American? Or is it only racist to believe governments commit false flags or allow atrocities to happen when that government happens to be Israel’s?
But they are anti-American, aren’t they? They all believe that the country is run by a “deep state” and that all the institutions are covering this up, and many of them believe that Hilary Clinton goes to great lengths to acquire something called Adrenochrome. They are quite open in how much they hate America as it actually exists.I’m surprised you missed it.
It’s anti-American for an American to ‘believe that the country is run by a “deep state” and that all the institutions are covering this up’?
Interesting.
I mean, besides the fact that “the” institutions would be part of this alleged deep state, wouldn’t they?
I particularly like the fact that if an American detests what the US Federal government has morphed into, he’s somehow “anti-American”… wasn’t America founded by people who detested Big Government?
I guess any Russians who detested the communist government were anti-Russian, Germans who detested the Nazis were anti-German, Brits who detest the Tories are anti-British, etc, etc.
Humbug Mr Jewell, Iran and it’s proxies are intent on destroying Israel, they have stated such for decades.
Galloway is a demagogue, nothing more, but a useful one at times.
I don’t know what Iran has to do with Mr Ali’s comment. I suggest you research ‘Jericho Wall’ if you think Israel had no prior knowledge.
Galloway, like Bridgen, would at least ask the difficult questions that the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition fails to.
Oh, it’s Dr Jewell, FWIW 🙂
Like telling a woman in a miniskirt she had it coming when she gets attacked walking home alone at night?
It would, of course, be far too much to ask for anyone, anywhere in our Establishment media to properly investigate the context and facts of October 7th. Where is the full analysis of the actual facts behind these late night claims of the Egyptians or US warnings to Israel? How about one on the evidence of friendly-fire that may have caused a large proportion of the civilian deaths on that day? What about the Hannibal Directive? These are issues that have been openly raised in Israeli media, but completely ignored in ours.
All we are treated to, and this piece is just one more sorry example, are reports of the ensuing ‘controversy’ regarding the comments. All sorts of hand-wringing about the supposed offence caused to people all too happy to take it. Such is our media and such, it seems, is Unherd.
From the very beginning of this conflict, our media presentation has been entirely controlled, and very one-sided. Almost nobody in this country is aware of what is going on in Israeli media.
Shit never sink
In situations like this conflict there are ‘warnings’ of attacks every day. Those being warned learn not to react unless there’s compelling evidence to do so.
If Labour do not withdraw their support of the candidate then I think we all know what’s going on within the Labour Party.
Also, just to remind us, Starmer was complicit in fully supporting Corbyn during the anti semitic storm within their party, he has not resolved it, it’s lying low until after GE2024
“Too many of these, and it starts to look like an institutional problem”.
It clearly is an institutional problem. There are enough people in positions of responsibility in the Labour party openly stating appalling anti-Semitic views to make that clear. The number shows no sign of decreasing. And there seems to be no effective discipline or sanction. One must conclude that Starmer is all words. Just as he failed to take any effective action against Jeremy Corbyn (in fact, he even enthusiastically promoted him – at least twice – before renouncing him).
Aside – if this sort of thing (in general, not this specific example) isn’t “hate speech” (though that’s not something I believe in), I don’t know what is. So where are the prosecutions ?
Ali’s comments aren’t a bug, they are a feature.
Left-wing activism now holds as an article of faith that Israel is an extension of Western colonialism and therefore bears sole responsibility not only for its own actions, but also any “resistance” against it.
Within that framework its easy to believe such conspiracy theories.
Ali and every other vile idiot out there who claim Israel allowed the attack to happen conveniently skate over the fact that even if it were true, to no degree does it excuse the fact that Hamas carried it out. They could choose not to but instead they choose to.
‘It is shocking that he would hold these views.’
Really ? Really ? Where have you been for f**k’s sake ? Ever been to Rochdale ? Ever talked to a group of Muslims about ‘the Jews’?
I’m surprised he hasn’t been handing out complimentary copies of ‘The Elders of Zion’.
At least Zemmour in France calls it out for what it is and talks about the need to roll back and fight the Islamisation of European countries.
It is shocking that he would hold these views.
Is this supposed to be a serious comment?I would be more surprised if he didn’t-I guess the only slight shock is he articulated them in public-which in itself tells you all you need to know about the Islamification of the UK and in particular Northern Towns like Rochdale-I’m old enough to remember Rochdale as a solid working class Lancashire town based on textiles and with a half decent Rugby League team .
Of Course Labour are anti semitic – how else do the get the 31 Muslim seats ?
Why is it that non white Tories are so sensible and reasonable about issues they get called coconuts, but Labour’s are exactly the mirror image bigots they are sterotypically expected to be?
‘a sign of conspiratorial thinking. It is shocking that he would hold these views.’ It is NOT a sign of ‘conspiratorial thinking’, and it is not in the least shocking that he would think this way. He’s a Muslim, and there are explicit texts in Islam which brand Jews as sub-human, and call on Muslims to kill them all. Texts which are repeatedly stated by Muslim clerics and taught in schools in the Palestinian territories, and have not been, cannot be, disavowed by supposedly ‘moderate’ Muslims.
Don’t know why anyone is surprised. Labour has long since courted the Muslim vote and doesn’t care about the Jew hate that community invariably drag in its wake.