Voters in Rochdale say they have little enthusiasm for an by election this week brought about by the death of the popular Labour MP Tony Lloyd
They have on the ballot paper,a former Labour candidate now disowned by his party, a former MP for the town who was thrown out of the party for sending inppropriate messages to a seventeen year old and another former MP who was himself been thrown out of Labour more than two decades ago over his opposition to the Iraq war
George Galloway, who if you don’t know is that the latter, is campaigning on behalf of the citizens of Gaza and hoping to galvanise the high proportion of mUslim voters in the seat as he has attempted to do in previous incarnations including Bradford, which he declared an “Israel-free zone” in 2014.
Meanwhile the Greens ditched their candidate over what was described as regretful social media posts and the Tory candidate spent the last week on holiday, perhaps missing a chance to take advantage
Labour, now have no candidate following the controversy of their selected candidate who Azhar Ali, Lancashire Council leader who was effectively outed by the Daily Mail over comments he made about Israel, who party leader Kier Starmer dithered for days over sackig for the party
Many commentators worry that this contest may be a portent for what could be to follow in the general election,which is destined to be the most social media driven,and mystonistic ever to be held.
The gloves have already been off in Rochdale,Simon Danczuk barred entry to a hustings organised by Galloway and then accuses one of Galloway’s supporters of threatening to put a hole in his head
The Liberals used to be the biggest party in Rochdale once upon a time but the leagacy of Cyril Smith and the grooming gangs hangs over them, their candidate Iain Donaldson told Sky said: “What needs to be done here is about graft, it’s about getting the services up to standard and it’s about helping people.”
Bookies are making Galloway,the leader of the far-left Workers Party of Britain the favorite whe voters go to the polls tomorrow in what are calling the Israel-Gaza election in a forgooten corner of the North West, but one thing the last few weeks have demonstrated is that a light has at least been shone on the town
