Why the Muslim Vote campaign is a glimpse into a horrifying future
Group’s sectarian insurgency over Gaza succeeded in making a dent to Labour’s majority
When the circus finally arrived, it offered the usual attractions. The old rituals were a comfort. John Curtice, the swing-o-meter, Laura Kuenssberg and Jeremy Vine performed the familiar motions, not to mention the irrepressible Count Binface.
But while the Labour celebrations and the Tory misery felt routine – even after we had grown used to them in opposite roles – under cover of darkness, a shocking new act crept into the tent.
An insurgent force has entered British politics. The Muslim Vote had no rosette and advanced no meaningful manifesto beyond a set of deeply sectarian principles. It stood candidates tactically, and owed their allegiances purely to religious and ethnic interests.
It had a single set of demands, all related to Gaza. This was a non-party. Yet in numbers, its victory was equal to Reform.
On the day of the election, Jeremy Corbyn proclaimed: “Today, Palestine is on the ballot.” If victorious in Islington North, he added, he would “stand up for the people of Gaza” and campaign tirelessly for “an end to the occupation of Palestine”.
This was the kind of single-issue politics we have come to expect from the former Labour leader. But he is now a prophet of the new sectarianism in our politics.
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