Keir Starmer in toxic nightmare battle to keep hold of Labour heartland seat

Rochdale Victorian Town Hall is so impressive that dictator Adolf Hitler planned to ship the building brick by brick to Germany if he conquered Britain. It symbolised a community that grew rich on the back of the lucrative wool and ­textile industries.

Today, however, four in 10 children live in poverty, and the Greater Manchester town is famous for all the wrong reasons.

The Rochdale grooming scandal saw 19 men convicted of offences including sex trafficking and rape.

And a damning report last month claimed that Greater Manchester Police and the council had ignored the problem for years.

The town’s voters are now set to go to the polls for the most controversial and chaotic by-election in living memory.

Labour should be clear favourites to win on Thursday, after holding the seat with a 9,668 majority in 2019. But Sir Keir Starmer was forced to disown candidate Azhar Ali, over allegations of antisemitism.

It means Labour is no longer taking part in the election but voters may be confused – due to the rules governing the poll, Mr Ali will still appear on ballot papers, and will still be listed as the Labour candidate.

He is not the only controversial figure standing in this toxic tussle between 11 candidates.

Left-wing firebrand George Galloway aims to appeal to Muslim voters with his fierce condemnation of Israel’s assault on Gaza. His posters feature the Palestinian flag, although the former Labour MP’s campaign literature also stresses his commitment to bringing maternity services back to the local hospital and fixing potholes.

He has become the bookies’ favourite to win and says his party, the Workers Party of Britain, will put up 50 candidates in the forthcoming general election.

Mr Galloway said: “There are going to be enormous consequences of this by-election. All over this region, people are going to be standing as independents and they are going to cost Labour seats.

“In Bury, in Bolton, in parts of Greater Manchester, we the Workers or our ­independent allies are going to cause ­mayhem in the Labour vote.”

Labour politicians make no secret of their dread at the prospect of Mr Galloway returning to Parliament.

Some of them are pinning their hopes on Simon Danczuk, another former Labour MP. He is standing for Reform UK, the re-branded Brexit Party, and some in Labour think he could be the surprise winner.

Mr Danczuk, however, has turned firmly against his former comrades and argues the party has abandoned working people.

He said: “I have always been traditional Labour. Tough on illegal immigration, all about work. That’s what Labour was set up for, to help people in work.

“And now the North London Labour Party is all about woke. It’s all about transgender issues, Black Lives Matter, ­taking the knee. They have no relevance to the hard-working people of Rochdale.”

Other Labour MPs are privately still ­hoping that Mr Ali is elected.

While the party’s offices in Rochdale are empty, with metal shutters protecting the door, it appears Mr Ali is continuing to ­campaign and agreed to appear at a ­hustings event last Thursday, before pulling out at a late stage.

The chaos isn’t restricted to Labour…

The Green Party disowned its candidate Guy Otten over what he calls “some regrettable social media posts I made a number of years ago”. But he too will continue to appear on ballot papers.

Greens are now urging their supporters to back independent candidate Mark Coleman, the former vicar of St Chad’s in Rochdale town centre, who is a supporter of climate campaigners Insulate Britain.

Rev Coleman received a five-week custodial sentence for public nuisance last year after telling a court he intended to commit further acts of “civil resistance”, such as sitting in the road.

The Tories came second in the constituency in 2019 and might perhaps hope to capitalise on Labour’s chaos.

But candidate Paul Ellison was missing in action last week when he took a holiday with his family in the Isle of Man, although party sources say this was just a short break from his intense campaigning.

So what do Rochdale voters make of it all?

Some are concerned that the by-election coverage, particularly of Mr Gallo­­way’s campaign, has exaggerated divisions within the town, where 30 per cent of voters are Muslim.

Farrukh Haroon, a former Labour supporter now backing Mr Galloway, said: “Gaza is also resonating with white voters and it is an issue that has been taken up by other candidates, not just George.”

He pointed out that Muslim community organisations had led efforts to house families affected by recent floods, and most of those helped had been white. He said this is an example of where communities have pulled together and helped each other.

“On the back of that, they do a soup run every week for homeless people, and predominantly the homeless are of white heritage.”

However, he said the work of community groups also highlighted the failure of the Labour-run council to provide help where it
is needed.

Resident Martin Fletcher insisted that Rochdale is improving. He said: “All across the country shops are closing and they’re trying to turn town centres into leis­ure destinations.

“Here in Rochdale they’ve got investment going in and it’s happening.

“They’re doing a good job. It’s not all doom and gloom.”

But Claire Nolan, 30, said that the high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour mean she is scared to bring her daughter to the town centre.

“I wouldn’t bring her here. There are too many fights,” she said.

Some of the problems are caused by teenagers but much of it appeared to involve drug users, she said.

And Ms Nolan added: “I’ve seen full-scale brawls. It’s constant.”