What a pleasure it was to see two socialist parties triumph in the most recent elections. First, Labour increased its share of the vote in Oldham — and then, last weekend, the Front National became France’s most popular party, securing almost 30 per cent in the first round of the country’s regional elections.
Labour’s win was, I suspect, a bit of a false dawn. For a start, the party did an un-usual thing and fielded a sentient and likeable candidate, something which most of the time it successfully avoids doing. But even then, it was at least partly dependent upon Asian men hauling large sacks of votes from illiterate and non-English-speaking residents into the local post office. The Asian Muslim — largely Bangladeshi — population of Oldham West and Royton is almost 25 per cent, and Ukip estimated the turnout within this sector at a remarkable 90 per cent. That will have helped a bit. As to the absence of the supposed Corbyn factor, my suspicion is that in solidly blue-collar northern constituencies the traditional Labour voters may not like Jezza, but at the moment they don’t find him noticeably more absurd than Ed Miliband. Much of a muchness. Mr Corbyn’s idiocies need time to settle down and mature among the populace before the desertion rate increases still further.
Labour’s healthy win bitterly disappointed many politicians, most of them from within the Parliamentary Labour Party, who had been hoping against hope for a Ukip victory. That was never going to happen in such a ‘diverse’ (i.e., lots of Muslims) constituency. But it was still not quite a stunning victory for a party in opposition at a by–election; Labour continues to lose votes in the north, and especially among the northern working class.
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