2012 Bradford West by-election

The Bradford West by-election was a by-election in the House of Commons constituency of Bradford West, which was held on Thursday 29 March 2012. The writ for the by-election was moved and accepted on 6 March 2012.

It was unexpectedly won by George Galloway of the Respect Party who defeated the Labour Party candidate by a large margin in a result referred to by Galloway as the "Bradford Spring" (by analogy with the Arab Spring). Galloway said the election result was Bradford's "peaceful democratic uprising" version of the riots which swept through England in August 2011.

The result was such a surprise as to cause the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to commission a report to study the campaign.

Background

Constituency

Bradford West covers the western areas of City of Bradford. Suburbs include Clayton, Heaton, Manningham, Toller, Thornton and Allerton.

Trigger

On 29 February 2012, the incumbent Member of Parliament for Bradford West, Marsha Singh, announced his intention to resign due to "serious illness". (He died four months later.) His most recent contribution in the House of Commons came in October 2009. As MPs cannot officially resign from the House of Commons, Singh was appointed to the role of Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus disqualifying him from the House.

On 6 March 2012, a motion to issue the writ for the by-election was successfully moved by Shadow Chief Whip Rosie Winterton, setting polling day as 29 March. Nominations closed at 4 pm on Wednesday 14 March.

Candidates

The Statement of Persons Nominated was released by the City of Bradford Council on 15 March.

Former MP George Galloway confirmed on 6 March that he would stand on behalf of the Respect Party, and later that day UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage announced that their candidate was Sonja McNally, a former Green Party council candidate. On 8 March, the Liberal Democrats chose Bradford City councillor Jeanette Sunderland to be their candidate, and the Conservatives chose businesswoman and former Rotherham 2010 general election candidate Jackie Whiteley. Labour chose Imran Hussain, the Deputy Leader of Bradford City Council, to be its candidate on 11 March.

On 9 March, the Green Party announced that their candidate would be Dawud Islam, a former Labour councillor and former Green local election candidate. The candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, Alan Hope, has contested seats on fourteen occasions, parliamentary elections and by-elections. Hope used the ballot paper description "Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party" as part of a sponsorship deal. A meeting of the Democratic Nationalists held in Burnley confirmed that Neil Craig was standing for the party as he had done at the 2010 general election.

Results

Galloway's election as MP was the first occasion that the main opposition party has lost a seat in a by-election since the May 2000 Romsey by-election (when the Conservatives lost to the Liberal Democrats). It was also among the largest swings against the incumbent party in the same time period. Respect's increase in its share of the vote, 52.8%, was also among the largest in the history of mainland British parliamentary by-elections since the introduction of universal suffrage.

Campaign

Hussain, the Labour candidate, declared that he would not attend any of the hustings with other candidates, concentrating instead on meeting the electorate. Several senior Labour politicians, including Ed Miliband, Dennis Skinner, Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, visited the constituency to support his campaign.

Galloway's campaign sought to capitalise on discontent with the local Labour Party and tension in the Asian community. He criticised the claimed role of '' baradari'', an Urdu