Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

A R C H I V E S

Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!

Madina Archives


Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
Nabila
09/19/03 at 11:15:33
[slm]

Muslims have played a very important role in the outcome of this by-election. The solid labour seat of Brent East was won by a pro-Muslim Liberal Democrat after Muslim groups campaigned against the Pro war labour candidate who has ties to the BJP. Tories came third :D

The lib-dem candidate won by over a thousand votes!
         
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
                     
                      Muslims instrumental in shock Lib-Dem victory

In what was described as a ‘shock result’, Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democratic candidate for the Brent East By-Elections managed to overturn a Labour majority of 13,000 and grab the constituency seat, with the backing of the vast local Muslim Community.

On Monday, 15th of September, MAB called on the local Muslim community to support the Liberal Democrat candidate and send a strong message to the Government, reflecting the great dismay and anger Brent East Muslims felt towards its policies on issues close to their hearts and minds.

In a move which brought surprise from many corners, the Muslim community has once again proved its profound influence on the outcome of elections, as well as its agreement with the sentiments of the British people. Such a result will prove a significant stepping stone towards the Muslim Community in Britain playing a major role in the outcome of the next General Election.

MAB wishes to reiterate its stand of not yet promoting one particular party to the Muslim Community, but rather asking British Muslims to vote for the those who stand positively on the side of issues of concern, such as war on Iraq, the Palestinian issue and issues that touch British Muslims in their daily lives. For this reason, MAB, along with various other Muslim organisations will continue to hold discussions and conduct meetings with all the political parties, in an attempt to heighten interest and concern for issues which are close to Muslims in Britain, as well as to be in a position to make a positive and sound recommendation to the community in the event of an election.

As was the case on May Day, when Muslims in Britain influenced the outcome of local and council elections as never before, the 18th of September will be remembered as another day when Muslims played a part in changing the course of British Politics.

Muslim Association of Britain

19th of September, 2003




Re: Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
humble_muslim
09/19/03 at 12:42:22
AA

Allahu Akbar! After all the rhetoric we have been hearing for years from certain groups/indivduals about the "uselessness" and "haramness" of taking part in politics, the muslims in Britain have finally achieved something concrete.  I am very, very proud Mashallah of all the muslims responsible for this, may Allah SWT reward them all.  
NS
Re: Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
timbuktu
09/19/03 at 21:13:45
[slm] heartening news indeed
Re: Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
Aafreen
09/22/03 at 19:03:17
asa,

i have a lot of respect for MAB, however they sent out one email in realtion to the Brent-East by-election and then claimed sole victory for the result (esp in the arab press) They did nto even have the courtesy to mention MPAC. In actual fact it was MPAC members who canvassed the streets lealeted the mosques and had ran a whole campaign for weeks( i was one of them). ISB commended our work, however MAB ignored our greater contribution.

please have a read of this....

Telegraph reports on MPAC SUCCESS

Muslim bloc vote 'a turning point in British politics'



By Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent
(Filed: 20/09/2003)


The Brent East by-election was a historic victory for the "Muslim bloc vote", it was claimed yesterday.

A Muslim website claimed that Labour's defeat at the hands of a Liberal Democrat anti-war candidate marked a turning point in British politics because the result was decided by a collective Muslim vote.

The Lib Dems do not accept that the explanation is quite as straightforward as that. But there is no doubt that Brent East will be remembered as the Iraq by-election, and that it will make all political parties even more interested in winning ethnic minority support.

Earlier this year, when the Lib Dems considered their chances of winning Brent East, they decided it was "a very long shot". It is a safe Labour seat where the Lib Dems came third in 2001, with just 11 per cent of the vote.

The party had no councillors in the constituency, relatively few activists and a candidate, Sarah Teather, who was a councillor in Islington rather than Brent.

As the Lib Dems opened their campaign office at the start of July, expectations were not particularly high.

But according to Lord Rennard, the party's campaigns director, they soon realised that there was a sizeable, anti-Labour protest vote that was theirs for the taking.

"As soon as we opened up, we found people who had voted Labour in the past coming through the doors because they wanted to help. We realised then that it could be very good territory for us," he said yesterday.

The single most important issue that turned the campaign was the war, not least because Brent East is the most ethnically diverse constituency in Britain.

Only 45 per cent of its residents are white. Twenty eight per cent are categorised as Asian, 20 per cent black, and the rest Chinese, "mixed" or "other".

Not surprisingly, the Muslim community (which has about 11 per cent of the constituency vote) and the Hindu community (about 18 per cent) are important.

The Lib Dems claim that they have been picking up ethnic minority votes from Labour for some time. But the war against Iraq has reinforced this trend and the anecdotal evidence from Brent East suggests that non-white voters switched in huge numbers from Labour to Lib Dem.

Although there were voters of all faiths opposed to the war, Muslims were particularly active. On the Monday before polling day the Muslim Association of Britain publicly nominated Miss Teather as the "best choice for Muslims" because of her anti-war stance.

Another group, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), put activists into the constituency, contacting people in person and by telephone in an attempt to ensure the defeat of the supposedly pro-war Labour candidate.

Yesterday the MPAC was triumphant.

"MPAC made history in the UK, as the first ever candidate was defeated by a Muslim bloc vote. The ummah (believers) had taken up a political jihad and delivered a bloody nose to the Government that attacked Iraq," it said on its website.

But Lord Rennard said Iraq on its own would not have won the Lib Dems the seat, and that it was the combination of the war with disillusion over public services that persuaded people to switch allegiance.

Yesterday the Tories were claiming that a Left-wing, anti-war Liberal Democrat Party would not be a threat to them because those views would never win elections in Middle Britain.

Of the Lib Dems' 100 top target seats, about 75 are held by a Conservative.

But Lord Rennard pointed out that there was a 15-point Conservative to Lib Dem swing in Brent East, in addition to the larger and better publicised Labour to Lib Dem one.

On a swing like that, dozens of those Tory seats could fall to the Lib Dems.
09/22/03 at 19:15:21
Aafreen
Re: Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
Aafreen
09/22/03 at 19:05:11
also:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1046879,00.html

What happens when 6,000 Muslim voters are alerted by community groups to their being taken for granted? Brent East. The Labour party rightly concludes that Brent East's 13% Muslim population was frustrated by the Iraq war. But this was not their only concern. Muslims feel an acute sense of betrayal and marginalisation - a lifetime of unwavering support cuts no ice with New Labour. When fair representation would require 25 Muslim MPs, we have just two.
Islamophobia and racism are rife in New Labour. Muslim Labour supporters need to do some soul-searching. People like Shahid Malik, who sits on Labour's national executive, ought to wake up to the reality that he is a token gesture. He is allowing his credibility, in working for racial equality and as an anti-BNP campaigner, to be used to legitimise that which he has fought all his life.
In contrast, the Liberal Democrats have actively been encouraging Muslims as parliamentary candidates. Mr Malik ought to consider jumping ship - he wouldn't be the first high-profile Labour loyalist to do so.
Aafreen Khan
Muslim Public Affairs Committee
Re: Labour Says Bye Bye to Brent East!
Aafreen
09/22/03 at 19:06:36
ISB commendation:

"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong. These are the ones to attain felicity." Qur'an 3:104

As-salaamu ‘alaykum everyone,

Today's papers continue to examine the reasons behind the Labour party's shock defeat in Thursday's Brent East by-election. The Daily Telegraph today (Saturday 20th September 2003) acknowledged that the Muslim vote (11% of voters in the constituency are Muslim) may have played a key role in swinging the election and highlighted the important role played by our friends at MPAC:

"The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), put activists into the constituency, contacting people in person and by telephone in an attempt to ensure the defeat of the supposedly pro-war Labour candidate.

Yesterday the MPAC was triumphant.

"MPAC made history in the UK, as the first ever candidate was defeated by a Muslim bloc vote. The ummah (believers) had taken up a political jihad and delivered a bloody nose to the Government that attacked Iraq," it said on its website."

We at the ISB Open Egroup salute MPAC for their hard work over the past few weeks. MPAC were the first Muslim egroup to have alerted UK Muslims about the Brent East by-election and urged them to work hard to ensure that the Liberal Democrats - who have consistently been the only sceptical party about the Iraq war - were able to defeat the Labour party.

salaams,

Moderators,

ISB Open Egroup


Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
A R C H I V E S

Individual posts do not necessarily reflect the views of Jannah.org, Islam, or all Muslims. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the poster and may not be used without consent of the author.
The rest © Jannah.Org