Column
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • July 12, 2024
Amit Roy
Amit Roy
THE behaviour of the elec-
torate in some constituen-
cies, such as North-West
Cambridgeshire where
Shailesh Vara (right) was
ousted by a 22-year-old
barely out of shorts, can only
be described as nihilistic.
Shailesh has been a dili-
gent Tory MP since he was
first elected in 2005 with a
majority of 9,933. It was
16,677 in 2010; 19,795 in
2015; 18,008 in 2017; and
25,983 in 2019.
Last week he lost by 39
votes to Labour’s Sam
Carling, who will be “the ba-
by of the House”. Shailesh
and Carling got 14,746 and
14,785 votes respectively, to
Reform’s 8,741.
Shailesh admitted he was
“disappointed”, adding, “I
feel blessed to have served
the area for about 20 years.”
His constituents are
completely mad to have got
rid of Shailesh. He was born
in Uganda, came to Britain
when he was nearly five, and
went into politics after qual-
ifying as a solicitor. At the
Tory party conference in
2000, he was awarded the
accolade of official “rising
star”, with the barrister Lord
Alexander of Weedon de-
scribing him as a “future
Conservative party leader”.
I have found the story I
did for the Daily Telegraph
when Shailesh, then 44, was
campaigning in 2005. I re-
member I took a picture of
him standing in a field of
yellow rapeseed plants.
Then and through his ca-
reer, he never played the
ethnic card. “It’s of a previ-
ous generation when the
ethnic element was at the
forefront,” he told me.
“I actually see myself as a
British citizen of Indian ori-
gin who is a Conservative
and who wishes to enter
parliament with a view to
serving my constituents in
North-West Cambridgeshire
and my country,”
Shailesh should be
elevated to the Lords, along
with Virendra Sharma, who
stepped down as the Labour
MP for Ealing Southall.
NIGEL FARAGE will, no
doubt, be delighted another
of his chaps has won.
I refer, of course, to the
presidential election in Iran,
where the Reform candi-
date, Masoud Pezeshkian
(right), with 16,384,403
votes, triumphed over the
ultra-conservative Saeed Jal-
ili, who received 13,538,179
votes, on a turnout of 50 per
cent last Saturday (6).
I don’t think, however,
that the new president will
be allowed to adopt a policy
of rapprochement with the
west. His life would be in
danger if he did.
BOB BLACKMAN, the To-
ry MP for Harrow East,
was tipped to lose his seat.
He is possibly the only
Conservative in the coun-
try who actually increased
his majority – to 11,680
from 8,170 in 2019.
It looks as though it’s
the Hindu vote wot won it
for him. Rishi Sunak’s
visit to the Sri Kutchh
Satsang Swaminarayan
Temple in Kenton,
northwest London, along
with Blackman, can’t have
done any harm.
The Hindu vote wasn’t
deployed this time in the
way it was against Jeremy
Corbyn. But the “Muslim
vote” was – over Sir Keir
Starmer’s alleged pro-Is-
raeli stance over Gaza.
In Birmingham Perry
Barr, the sitting Labour
MP, Khalid Mahmood, was
knocked out by an
independent, Ayoub Khan,
by a margin of 507 votes.
The Muslim vs Muslim
contest reflected anger
over Gaza. But some
callers on radio phone-ins
expressed concern that
there appeared to be a
single-issue religious vote
in secular Britain.
COMPARED to the 60 per cent turnout in
the British general election last week, it
was 66.6 per cent in India, where 642 mil-
lion people out of the eligible electorate of
968 million cast their ballots.
In Britain, polling took place last Thurs-
day (4), whereas in India, voting was held in
seven phases from April 19 to June 1, be-
cause of the size of the country as well as
security issues.
Had India encountered the problems that
were faced by a constituency such as Hen-
don in north London, where postal voting
forms were not delivered on time, the coun-
try’s Election Commission would probably
have ordered a repoll.
Ameet Jogia, co-chair of Conservative
Friends of India, who lost by 15 votes – the
smallest in the country – understandably
feels cheated. Jogia, who worked as an aide
to Lord Dolar Popat before moving to
Downing Street to be an adviser to prime
minister Rishi Sunak, got 15,840 votes to
Labour’s 15,855 and Reform’s 3,038.
Jogia is now considering taking legal
action against Barnet council. He told the
Daily Telegraph that he personally knew of
around a dozen constituents who had told
him they would have voted for him, but
their postal ballot papers never arrived.
“There were so many others, too,” he said.
“In my case, this would have made a differ-
ence. We were robbed. Barnet council has
had a repeated issue with postal votes going
missing or not arriving. We had it in the
mayoral election (in May) when whole
streets did not receive them.”
Jogia had even written to the council on
May 9, demanding the issue be “rectified
before the upcoming general election”.
There does seem to be a case for a repoll.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that
among the 10 cabinet ministers who
lost their seats was the justice
secretary, Alex Chalk, who
represented Rishi at
India’s Republic Day
celebrations at Lon-
don’s Guildhall ear-
lier this year.
Views in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper
Madness of ousting Vara
Iran’s reform president
Case for repolling
in Hendon?
JOGIA CITES POSTAL VOTES DELAY FOR LOSS
THE Tories should consider whether
among the 121 MPs who were elect-
ed there really is a better candidate
to replace Rishi Sunak.
Of the hopefuls, the most unsuita-
ble is Suella Braverman, who con-
tributed to the Tory defeat by spend-
ing her time attacking the prime
minister and her own party in Daily
Telegraph articles.
To move to the right and make
common cause now with Reform’s
Nigel Farage would make the Con-
servative party unelectable. Having
been removed as home secretary,
she is seeking vengeance. But hers is
an “idiotic strategy”. Whatever else,
“the voters aren’t mugs”.
The one thing that 172,437 Tory
party members (according to 2022
figures) do not want is another non-
white leader. They were furious they
did not get a chance in ensuring
Rishi didn’t win against a white
candidate. It would be ironic if it
now came down to Suella versus
Kemi Badenoch. The latter believes
colonialism and slavery contributed
little to the British economy.
As prime minister with a 174-seat
majority, Sir Keir Starmer won’t be
too bothered by another round of
bloodletting in the Tory party. But if
he wants to establish better relations
with the Indian community, in
particular, he should reconsider the
plan to impose VAT on private school
fees – or, at least, stagger it over a
number of years. Pupils pulled out
from private schools will struggle to
find places in the state sector.
Also, squeezing the non-doms on
their global earnings sounds good in
theory, but in practice they will
move their money out of the UK. On
this, he should be pragmatic.
MANY people have com-
mented on the grace and
dignity with which Rishi Su-
nak bowed out as prime
minister last week.
“One of the most remarka-
ble things about Britain is
just how unremarkable it is
that two generations after my
grandparents came here with
little, I could become prime
minister. And that I could
watch my two young daugh-
ters light Diwali candles on
the steps in Downing Street,”
Sunak said.
He called Britain “the best
country in the world” and
described Sir Keir Starmer,
“whatever our disagree-
ments”, as “a decent, public-
spirited man who I respect”.
And in return, Starmer
said Rishi’s achievement as
the first British Asian prime
minister– “the extra effort
that will have required” –
should not be “underesti-
mated by anyone”. He also
recognised the “dedication
and hard work” Rishi had
brought to his leadership.
And speaking last Sunday
(7) on the BBC’s Sunday with
Laura Kuenssberg, the histori-
an Sir Simon Schama contra-
sted Donald Trump’s Ameri-
ca with the peaceful transfer
of power that had taken
place in the UK, “so gener-
ously stated in Rishi Sunak’s
rather wonderful speech”. It
was “a majestic thing that we
can’t take for granted”.
Sunak’s concession speech
Questions of faith
Braverman:
Unsuitable
strategy
NARROW MARGIN:
Ameet Jogia
PARTY
POLITICS:
Suella
Braverman
© Jack Taylor/Getty Images
© Leon Neal/Getty Images
© Chris J Ratcliffe/WPA
Pool/Getty Images
© Hossein Sepahvand/Office of the
Iranian President via Getty Images
© Leon Neal/Getty Images
SAYING
FAREWELL:
Rishi Sunak
RARE VICTORY: Bob Blackman
(right) with Rishi Sunak (centre)