Bradford West was one of the most anticipated results of the United Kingdom general election on 8 May 2015. Few constituency battles in British political history have been so publically rancorous, personally hostile and, at times, quite so utterly bizarre. At its centre was a bitter clash between the Respect Party’s leader and maverick candidate, George Galloway, and the new-to-politics Labour candidate, Naz Shah.
The election result was declared just after 6am on Friday morning: Galloway was no longer a member of the British parliament. Shah had won a decisive victory with a majority of 11,420 votes. She received 50% of the votes cast, over twice that of Galloway who came in at 21.2%. The share of votes for the remaining six candidates was as follows: George Grant (Conservative), 15.3%; Harry Boota (UKIP), 7.8%; Alun Griffiths (Liberal Democrat), 2.9%; Celia Hickson (Green), 2.7%; James Kirkcaldy (Independent), 0.2%; and Therese Hirst (English Democrats), 0.2%.
Smears and character assassinations had characterised the political campaign in the constituency, and Shah referred to this in her acceptance speech: “I thank all my opponents, with the exception of one, who all convicted themselves really deeply to, and fought to be elected on, issues and in the spirit of friendly rivalry. To Mr Galloway I say that your campaign demeaned our democracy but personal attacks on me have not worked. The people of Bradford West have seen through this and you have been sent on your way.”
