Batley and Spen: A tale of two leaflets

By Doug Johnson

All eyes will turn briefly to Yorkshire on Thursday for the latest by-election triggered by May’s local elections, in Batley and Spen. Labour faces a tough battle to hold the seat, squeezed from one direction by the Conservatives and the other by celebrity feline impersonator, George Galloway.

It has not been an edifying campaign – and not just for the unusual sight of the Monster Raving Loony Party appearing at a rally with Galloway and Lawrence Fox. Social media is awash with stories of dirty campaigning, abuse and misinformation. Perhaps most concerningly, Yorkshire Police is currently investigating reports of Labour activists being assaulted on the campaign trail.

The tone of the campaign is summed up neatly by two leaflets. The first, published by Labour, features a picture of Boris Johnson shaking hands with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, alongside a slogan warning voters not to risk a ‘Tory MP who is not on your side.’ 

From a party whose MPs have, elsewhere, voiced support for Modi when it has suited, it’s a clear dog-whistle – and a sign of how much pressure the party is feeling locally from Galloway’s targeting of Muslim constituents.  The leaflet has been condemned by Labour MPs including Navendu Mishra and Labour Friends of India.

The second claims to have been published by Labour – but was not. Images of a leaflet which claims that ‘Labour supports taking the knee’ and is ‘fighting white privilege’ have circulated online in the past few days. The leaflet is mocked up to resemble Labour branding but lacks an imprint and is fake. In combining misinformation with culture war politics, it captures the by-election in a single, mendacious, package.

It’s tempting to see all this as a disturbing sign of the state of modern politics – and it is. But it is also important not to draw sweeping conclusions. Nasty by-election campaigns are nothing new – see the notorious 1983 Bermondsey by-election, which featured dog-whistle homophobia, smashed windows and anonymous leaflets.

There’s a further common factor between the two by-elections, in the presence of an ‘alternative’ Labour candidate, Southwark Council leader John O’Grady, who campaigned on the subject of Peter Tatchell’s sexuality. George Galloway’s campaign in Batley and Spen has focused on a narrow range of touchstone issues for part of Labour’s traditional vote in the constituency.

The presence of an aggressive third-party campaigning on cultural issues is the difference between Batley and Spen and recent by-elections in Hartlepool and Chesham and Amersham. Judging by Labour’s Modi leaflet, it’s also a key reason why the campaign is getting ugly.