UK: Pro-Gaza independent candidates hit back over Labour claims of intimidation and abuse
Thirteen independent candidates who stood in the UK general election on pro-Palestinian platforms have written a letter to members of the media rejecting claims that their campaigns were “hateful” and “intimidating”.
The candidates - including former Nelson Mandela ally Andrew Feinstein, who halved Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s vote share in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras - said the claims aired in the media use “racist dog whistles and manufactured panic” to “stifle democratic scrutiny”.
The letter said: “Highlighting voting records or choosing not to re-elect certain MPs is a democratic right, not intimidation.”
Several Labour MPs have claimed that Labour members suffered intimidation and abuse, widely considered to be in reference to pro-Palestinian independent campaigns.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday denounced “an alarming rise in intimidation, harassment and abuse towards candidates, campaigners and volunteers from all parties”. She promised a Home Office review of the election to assess the levels of harassment candidates faced.
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John Woodcock, the government’s advisor on political violence, has alleged a “concerted campaign by extremists to create a hostile atmosphere for MPs within their constituencies to compel them to cave into political demands”.
Woodcock, who now sits in the House of Lords as crossbench peer Baron Walney, was previously an MP suspended from the Labour Party in 2018 over accusations he sent inappropriate texts and messages to a former staff member.
In relation to the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump last weekend, Woodcock said on Monday that he fears an assassination of a British politician taking place. Two British MPs have been murdered since 2016.
'Respect the democratic process'
Meanwhile Jon Ashworth, the former Labour MP for Leicester South who was unseated by pro-Palestinian independent Shockat Adam, has claimed he hid from “screaming” pro-Palestinian protesters during the election campaign and was labelled “genocidal Jon”.
Although Ashworth has not accused Adam’s campaign of intimidation, he said last week that the election campaign in general “was run by a minority of bullies, and loud mouths”.
Ashworth explicitly slammed The Muslim Vote, a campaign which supported pro-Palestinian candidates during the election.
He drew criticism from many voters in Leicester South after he abstained from a parliamentary vote on a ceasefire in Gaza in November. Labour leader Keir Starmer had banned his MPs from voting in favour of the motion.
Meanwhile Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley who had her majority slashed by Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre, also alleged intimidation during the campaign.
So did Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary who narrowly retained her seat in Birmingham Ladywood. “This was a campaign that was sullied by harassment and intimidation,” she said, adding that some people had tried to “deny” her Muslim faith because of her Labour membership.
And Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney, said she needed police protection after receiving death threats.
Phillips, Mahmood and Ali saw previously large majorities slashed by pro-Palestinian rival candidates.
Several British national newspapers have also published opinion articles accusing pro-Palestinian independents of sectarianism, hate and intimidation.
'Highlighting voting records or choosing not to re-elect certain MPs is a democratic right, not intimidation'
- Excerpt from the letter
But the independent candidates who signed Thursday’s letter to members of the press asserted that it is not intimidation “to question records on opposing some of the worst crimes against humanity and flagrant breaches of International Humanitarian Law.”
The letter said the election of five pro-Palestinian independent MPs reflects a “desire for representation on critical issues like Palestine and the UK's foreign policy”.
It called on media outlets to “respect the democratic process and the people's will, refraining from mislabeling or marginalizing grassroots movements.”
The letter further criticised Labour under Starmer’s leadership, alleging that the party “aims to delegitimize left-leaning and independent candidates who offer progressive alternatives, portraying them as bullies to deflect from genuine political discontent and demand for change”.
Independent candidates including Cassi Bellingham, Azhar Chohan, Emma Dent Coad, Fiona Lali and Tanushka Marah, put their name to the letter.
Marah, who is British-Palestinian and stood in Hove and Portslade, had her campaign office vandalised days before the election.
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