Labour’s ‘grievance politics’ came back to bite it in controversial Gorton and Denton by-election, Kemi Badenoch says
Labour’s ‘politics of complaints’ has come back to bite him after one of the dirtiest election campaigns ever, Kemi Badenoch said yesterday.
The Conservative Party leader said Keir Starmer’s party had created a ‘monster’ harvesting the ‘Muslim community bloc’ votes used by the Greens on the streets of south Manchester to defeat him.
The Gorton and Denton by-election campaign saw dirty tricks, dodgy polling, misleading leaflets and accusations of intimidation.
Following the Greens’ victory, Ms Badenoch accused Labour, the Greens and Reform UK of instigating ‘the politics of grievance’.
‘Labour created the monster that captured the votes of the Muslim community bloc and that monster came back to bite them yesterday,’ he said.
All three main parties were accused of using underhand tactics to manipulate the vote.
Labor accused the Greens of ‘whipping hatred’ among Muslims in Pakistan’s constituencies by releasing a campaign video in Urdu featuring Sir Keir shaking hands with Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Labor Party Member of Parliament Dr. Jeevun Sandher said the video was ‘not about Gorton and Denton’ and added: ‘I can hear the dog whistling.’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says Labor has created a ‘monster’ in ‘Muslim community bloc’ vote – and claims there is some backlash against them in Gorton and Denton
Keir Starmer’s party loses byelection after falling to third place in previously safe seat
Labor had used photos of Boris Johnson shaking hands with Mr Modi to distract potential Tory voters in the fierce 2021 fight for the seat of Batley and Spen.
Elsewhere, the Greens have produced strikingly lopsided graphs and suggested Labor’s vote was understated.
They were accused of twice misquoting an academic who later made a formal complaint to the returning officer.
And a ‘vote’ leaflet claimed that despite polls showing a three-way race, there were ‘600 votes’ between them and Reform and ‘no one else could win’.
Labor, meanwhile, was accused by the Greens of inventing fictional organizations to convince voters they were the tactical voting choice to defeat Reformation.
The Greens said leaflets from a non-existent group called ‘Tactical Election’ were urging voters to support Labour.
They also complained about a Labor Party campaign vehicle claiming Zack Polanski’s party wanted to ‘allow our daughters to be used for legal prostitution’.
It is said that the party then reported the Labor Party to the police.
Reform candidate Matt Goodwin appeared in court over a leaflet sent on behalf of the party, said to have come from a ‘concerned neighbour’.
He narrowly avoided a fine of up to £5,000 for documents sent to 81,000 homes.
