2012 Bradford West by-election

Bradford West covers the western areas of the City of Bradford local government district, including the city centre. Suburbs include Clayton, Heaton, Manningham, Toller, Thornton and Allerton.

On 29 February 2012, the incumbent Member of Parliament for Bradford West, Marsha Singh, announced his intention to resign due to "serious illness".{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17218405 |title=Bradford West MP Marsha Singh to stand down|work= BBC News |date=1 March 2012|accessdate=6 March 2012}} (He died four months later.){{cite news |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9821832.Tributes_are_paid_as_former_Bradford_MP_Marsha_Singh_dies/ |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=18 July 2012 |title=Tributes are paid as former Bradford MP Marsha Singh dies |last=O'Rourke |first=Tanya}} His most recent contribution in the House of Commons came in October 2009.{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?pid=10543&pop=1 |title=Appearance search results|website= Theyworkforyou.com|accessdate=6 March 2012}} As MPs cannot officially resign from the House of Commons, Singh was appointed to the role of Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus disqualifying him from the House.{{cite press release|url=http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_17_12.htm |title=Three Hundreds of Chiltern |publisher= HM Treasury|accessdate=6 March 2012}}

On 6 March 2012, a motion to issue the writ for the by-election was successfully moved by Shadow Chief Whip Rosie Winterton, setting polling day as 29 March.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2012/march/marsha-singh-stands-down-as-mp/|title=Writ moved for the Bradford West by-election|date=6 March 2012|work=parliament.uk|accessdate=8 March 2012}} Nominations closed at 4 pm on Wednesday 14 March.{{cite web | url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/government_politics_and_public_administration/democracy_and_elections/Parliamentary_ByElection_29_March_2012 | title=Bradford Metropolitan District Council | Parliamentary By-Election – 29 March 2012 | accessdate=9 March 2012}}

The Statement of Persons Nominated was released by the City of Bradford Council on 15 March.{{cite web|url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A57E2517-0DF3-45A0-88A8-190A85006530/0/StatementofPersonsNominated.pdf |title=Statement of Persons Nominated|publisher= Bradford City Council|accessdate=15 March 2012}}

Former MP George Galloway confirmed on 6 March that he would stand on behalf of the Respect Party, and later that day UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage announced that their candidate was Sonja McNally, a former Green Party council candidate.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-17268770 |title=Former MP George Galloway to stand in Bradford West|work= BBC News|date=|accessdate=6 March 2012}}{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/big-brother-george-galloway-in-bid-to-be-bradford-mp-1-4315091 |title=Big Brother George in bid to be Bradford MP|work= Yorkshire Post|accessdate=6 March 2012}} On 8 March, the Liberal Democrats chose Bradford City councillor Jeanette Sunderland to be their candidate, and the Conservatives chose businesswoman and former Rotherham 2010 general election candidate Jackie Whiteley.{{cite web|url=http://www.libdemvoice.org/jeanette-sunderland-selected-to-fight-bradford-west-for-the-liberal-democrats-27465.html |title=Jeanette Sunderland selected to fight Bradford West|website= LibDemVoice.org|accessdate=8 March 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2012/03/the-tory-candidate-for-the-bradford-west-by-election-is-jackiewhiteley.html |title=The Conservative candidate for the Bradford West by-election is Jackie Whiteley Tory MPs |publisher=Conservativehome.blogs.com |date=8 March 2012 |accessdate=28 March 2012}} Labour chose Imran Hussain, the Deputy Leader of Bradford City Council, to be its candidate on 11 March.{{cite web|url=http://labourlist.org/2012/03/bradford-west-shortlist/ |title=Bradford West shortlist|work= Labourlist|accessdate=10 March 2012}}

On 9 March, the Green Party announced that their candidate would be Dawud Islam,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-17325306 |title=The Green Party candidate for Bradford West picked |work=BBC News|date=10 March 2012 |accessdate=28 March 2012}} a former Labour councillor and former Green local election candidate.{{cite web |url=http://yorkshireandhumber.greenparty.org.uk/region/yorkshireandhumber/news/dawud-islam-standing-for-bradford-west.html |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121224005128/http://yorkshireandhumber.greenparty.org.uk/region/yorkshireandhumber/news/dawud-islam-standing-for-bradford-west.html |url-status=dead |archivedate=24 December 2012 |title=Dawud Islam standing for Bradford West |publisher=Yorkshire and Humber Green Party |accessdate=2 April 2012 }} The candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, Alan Hope, has contested seats on fourteen occasions, parliamentary elections and by-elections.{{cite web|url=http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/bradfordwest/ |title=Bradford West |publisher= UK Polling |accessdate=15 March 2012}} Hope used the ballot paper description "Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party" as part of a sponsorship deal. A meeting of the Democratic Nationalists held in Burnley confirmed that Neil Craig was standing for the party as he had done at the 2010 general election.{{cite web |url=http://efp.org.uk/nationalist-unity-in-burnley/ |title=Nationalist Unity in Burnley : England First Party |publisher=Efp.org.uk |accessdate=30 March 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131118051451/http://efp.org.uk/nationalist-unity-in-burnley/ |archivedate=18 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}

{{Election box begin|title=2012 Bradford West by-election}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link

|party = Respect Party

|candidate = George Galloway

|votes = 18,341

|percentage = 55.9

|change = +52.8

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Labour Party (UK)|candidate=Imran Hussain|votes=8,201|percentage=25.0|change=–20.3}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Conservative Party (UK)|candidate=Jackie Whiteley|votes=2,746|percentage=8.4|change=–22.7}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Liberal Democrats (UK)|candidate=Jeanette Sunderland|votes=1,505|percentage=4.6|change=–7.1}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=UK Independence Party|candidate=Sonja McNally|votes=1,085|percentage=3.3|change=+1.3}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Green Party of England and Wales|candidate=Dawud Islam|votes=481|percentage=1.5|change=–0.8}}

{{Election box candidate|party=Democratic Nationalists|candidate=Neil Craig|votes=344|percentage=1.0|change=–0.1}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Official Monster Raving Loony Party|candidate=Howling Laud Hope|votes=111|percentage=0.3|change=New}}

{{Election box majority| votes = 10,140|percentage = 30.9| change = N/A}}

{{Election box turnout|votes=32,814|percentage=50.8|change=–14.7}}

{{Election box registered electors|

|reg. electors = 48,958

|ref =

|change =

}}

{{Election box gain with party link

|winner = Respect Party

|loser = Labour Party (UK)

|swing = +52.8

}}

{{Election box end}}

Galloway's election as MP was the first occasion that the main opposition party has lost a seat in a by-election since the May 2000 Romsey by-election (when the Conservatives lost to the Liberal Democrats).{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17549388 |title=George Galloway wins Bradford West by-election |work=BBC News |date=30 March 2012 |accessdate=30 March 2012}} It was also among the largest swings against the incumbent party in the same time period.{{cite news|first=Andy |last=McSmith |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcsmiths-diary-respect-mp-george-galloway-needs-to-work-on-his-swing-10137061.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcsmiths-diary-respect-mp-george-galloway-needs-to-work-on-his-swing-10137061.html |archive-date=1 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Andy McSmith's Diary: Respect MP George Galloway needs to work on his swing|work=The Independent|date= 26 March 2015|accessdate=14 April 2015}}{{cbignore}} Respect's increase in its share of the vote, 52.8%, was also among the largest in the history of mainland British parliamentary by-elections since the introduction of universal suffrage.

Hussain, the Labour candidate, declared that he would not attend any of the hustings with other candidates, concentrating instead on meeting the electorate. Several senior Labour politicians, including Ed Miliband, Dennis Skinner, Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, visited the constituency to support his campaign.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/mar/27/george-galloway-bradford-west-byelection |title=Bradford West byelection: George Galloway shakes up Labour relations|first= Helen |last=Pidd|work=The Guardian|date= 27 March 2012|accessdate=28 March 2012}}

Galloway's campaign sought to capitalise on discontent with the local Labour Party and tension in the Asian community. He criticised the claimed role of baradari, an Urdu word literally meaning "brotherhood" that denotes a hierarchical system of clan politics, in corrupting the area's local politics, particularly the local Labour Party. He said that baradari was responsible for "second- and third-rate politicians particularly but not exclusively from the Labour Party being elected to the city council on the basis not of ability, not of ideas, not on records of experience but on whether their father came from the same village as someone else's father 50 or 60 years ago". Naweed Hussain, a campaign manager for the former Labour MP Singh over the previous three general elections, defected and became a campaign manager for Galloway, complaining that Labour had been "bypassing democracy" in the seat. Imran Hussain dismissed claims of baradari.

The Times correspondent Michael Savage noticed that Galloway referred "heavily to his quasi-Islamic values in his campaign literature. One leaflet{{cite letter|url=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q47q0Pwgsn0/T3QZfonHdPI/AAAAAAAAH_M/iA8ub8WX2HY/s1600/Galloway%2BMuslim%2Bletter.jpg|subject=An Important message from George Galloway|first=George|last=Galloway|accessdate=1 April 2012|recipient= The voters of the Muslim faith and Pakistani heritage in Bradford West}} proclaimed that 'God KNOWS who is a Muslim and he KNOWS who is not. I, George Galloway, do not drink and never have."{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/galloway-bounces-back-with-shock-by-election-win-in-bradford-spring-bz38nt3d9rq |title=Galloway bounces back with shock by-election win in safe Labour seat |last=Savage |first=Michael |date=30 March 2012 |pages=8–9 |work=The Times |access-date=5 June 2020}} Galloway initially said that the photocopied leaflet in question, which did not, as electoral law requires, include the Respect logo, agent's name or address, had not been produced by him. He made similar comments in his campaign rally, saying, "I'm a better Pakistani than he [Mr Hussain] will ever be. God knows who's a Muslim and who is not. And a man that's never out of the pub shouldn't be going around telling people you should vote for him because he's a Muslim."{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9176195/A-runaway-victory-for-George-Galloway-and-all-praise-to-Allah.html |title=A runaway victory for George Galloway – and all praise to Allah |work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=2 April 2012}} Galloway's election agent subsequently accepted that the leaflet had Galloway's approval.{{cite news |last=Pidd|first=Helen|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/22/labour-police-leaflet-racists-claim |title=Labour complains to police over leaflet's 'closet racists' claim |work=The Guardian|date=22 November 2012|accessdate=30 May 2013}} Decca Aitkenhead, in a Guardian interview published near the end of April 2012, wrote: "Contrary to every report I've read, he doesn't deny writing the leaflet himself".{{cite news|last=Aitkenhead|first=Decca|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/apr/29/george-galloway-interview-bradford-west|title=George Galloway: 'I believe that on judgment day, people have to answer for what they did'|work=The Guardian|date=29 April 2016|accessdate=19 December 2016}} The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK), which campaigned for Galloway, were involved in promoting the insinuations against Hussain over his reputed drinking of alcohol.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9176195/A-runaway-victory-for-George-Galloway-and-all-praise-to-Allah.html|title=A runaway victory for George Galloway – and all praise to Allah |work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=4 April 2012|location=London|first=Andrew|last=Gilligan|date=30 March 2012}}

In an article for The Times, the Labour MP Diane Abbott argued that the result was not one of "identity" politics: "If Muslim voters in Bradford West were going to back someone who shared their ethnic identity, they would have voted for the excellent Labour candidate, who happens to be a local Muslim councillor. Furthermore, George won heavily in every ward, including many that were not majority Muslims."{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/scotland-travel/a-doughty-campaigner-who-cant-be-written-off-vnh7tcqmbgj|first=Diane|last=Abbott|title=A doughty campaigner who can't be written off|page=9|work=The Times|date=31 March 2012}}

Respect stood a total of 12 candidates in the May 2012 local elections in Bradford, although the party had said they would stand candidates in all 30 wards. Five Respect councillors were elected.

The Green by-election candidate Dawud Islam defected to Respect on 3 April 2012.{{cite press release|url=http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002429772477#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=258968497527474&id=100002429772477 |title=Dawud Islam |via= Facebook|accessdate=8 April 2012}}

{{Election box begin|title=2010 United Kingdom general election{{cite web |url=http://www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/52CE0E18-798D-4F40-BCA3-3623EDB1A95F/0/BradfordWestStatementofPersonsNominated.pdf |title=Bradford West constituency: statement as to persons nominated and notice of poll |publisher=Bradford City Council|accessdate=5 July 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a60.stm|title=UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Bradford West|date=7 May 2010|work=Election 2010|publisher=BBC|accessdate=13 May 2010}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|party=Labour Party (UK)|candidate=Marsha Singh|votes=18,401|percentage=45.3|change=+5.6}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Conservative Party (UK)|candidate=Zahid Iqbal|votes=12,638|percentage=31.1|change=−0.2}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Liberal Democrats (UK)|candidate=David Hall-Matthews|votes=4,732|percentage=11.7|change=−7.4}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=British National Party|candidate=Jenny Sampson|votes=1,370|percentage=3.4|change=–3.5}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Respect Party|candidate=Arshad Ali|votes=1,245|percentage=3.1|change=New}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=Green Party of England and Wales|candidate=David Ford|votes=940|percentage=2.3|change=−0.7}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|party=UK Independence Party|candidate=Jason Smith|votes=812|percentage=2.0|change=New}}

{{Election box candidate|party=Democratic Nationalists|candidate=Neil Craig|votes=438|percentage=1.1|change=New}}

{{Election box majority|votes = 5,763 |percentage = 14.2| change= +5.8}}

{{Election box turnout|votes=40,576|percentage=64.9|change=+8.9}}

{{Election box registered electors|

|reg. electors =

|ref =

|change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link

|winner = Labour Party (UK)

|swing = +2.9

}}

{{Election box end}}

• List of United Kingdom by-elections

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{By-elections to the 55th UK Parliament}}

Bradford West by-election

Bradford West by-election

Bradford West by-election

Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Bradford constituencies

Category:2010s in West Yorkshire

Category:George Galloway