The Far Left and the 2024 General Election

In this country, electoral politics is the graveyard of left wing aspirations. But that has never stopped the far left - defined here as a movement of groups, parties, and/or alliances that lays claim to Marxist, communist, class conscious, and/or socialist labels - from fielding its own candidates. Now that nominations for seats closed on Friday 7th June, by my reckoning there are 242 candidates standing under an unambiguously left wing party label. There are also 59 more left wing independents, of which more shortly.

How does the scale of the far left challenge match up to previous years? Very few candidates stood in 2017 and 2019 because most of the left had seized the opportunity Corbynism presented and were plugging away in the Labour Party. At the last election just 17 candidates from seven organisations stood, a small total exacerbated by the particular character of that election. This was slightly down on the unexpected contest of two years previous. You would have to go to 2015 for a proper assessment of the far left's strength and, yes, more people are standing now than nine years ago. Then the different parties and alliances of the extra-Labour left fielded 215 candidates, with 131 of them coming from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. That was higher than the Socialist Alliance at its height and better than the official Communist Party's peak of 100 candidates at the 1950 general election.

Fast forward to 2024 and George Galloway's Workers' Party have surpassed the record set by TUSC. Going by my online tour of the country's constituencies, the electorate in 152 constituencies will have the WP option. In contrast TUSC, the electoral vehicle that doesn't take elections seriously, was able to rustle up 40 candidancies. This is way down on 2015 and is even beaten by their 2010 debut, where they stood in 42 seats.

Other sizeable interventions, at least by the minnowed standards of the British far left, are offered by the Communist Party of Britain and the Socialist Labour Party. The CPB, benefiting from a rejuvenation of the Young Communist League, has managed a roster of 14 candidates. This almost doubles the numbers standing in 2015 and 2010. No such infusion of fresh blood has flowed into the SLP, which doesn't seem to exist between elections (though, to be fair, the SLP East Midlands banner was at Saturday's Silk Mill march/festival in Derby, and apparently I'm the spitting image of one of their lesser spotted comrades). Its 12 candidates this time beats 2015's eight, but pales against 2010's 24. Then you have the usual smattering of smaller groups who habitually stand in elections. The weirdest campaign has to be that offered by the Socialist Equality Party who've decided to centralise their scarce resources by launching two challenges at the opposite ends of this island.

242 candidates means this is the largest far left election challenge ever. But is even more so if you add in the 59 independents. There are definitional issues about whether these could be classed as left-of-Labour challenges. On the one hand, the answer is obviously a yes. Considering the hightest profile of these, such as Jeremy Corbyn, Faiza Shaheen, Andrew Feinstein, and Leanne Mohamad, these are politically and rhetorically to Labour's left. But from the point of view of measuring the electoral strength of the far left over time, they're problematic. As independents, such candidacies draw on different dynamics. For example, thinking back to Ken Livingstone's victorious London mayoral candidacy in 2000, no one suggested at the time that left challengers to New Labour were on the cusp of great things. A point reinforced by the very modest votes won by the London Socialist Alliance in the contemporaneous assembly elections.

Talking of definitional issues, some readers would query the acceptance of the Workers' Party as a far left organisation. Dodgy candidates, including not a few who throw around antisemitic and conspiracy theories like they're confetti, and the party's sociological base reminds one more of Reform than socialist organisations that are routinely critiqued - like the Socialist Workers' Party - for being middle class. Despite this, there are three reasons for including them here. Galloway has positioned the WP as a left organisation, and one that subscribes to an anti-imperialism that goes well beyond the bounds of mainstream politics. The second is its policy platform. The pledges outlined on its website are similar demands to what you might read at the end of a dreary Trotskyist weekly. The anti-woke posturing the party has grown notorious for is downplayed. And, thirdly, as far as the ordinary punter is concerned arguments about the WP's composition don't come into the equation. With Reform and the Tories scrapping in the sewer, voters motivated by racism and spite have more attractive options than a party defining itself in soldiarity with victimised ethnic minorities. You don't have to like them, but for my money the WP is within the scope of what the 'far left' is.

One last point, can we talk about sectarianism? With 650 seats up for grabs, there are plenty enough to go round. But no. Leaving aside clashes between left independents and left organisations, which swim in slightly different streams anyway, there are - give or take a few - 34 clashes among our 242 candidates. There are even a couple of seats where three left baldies are fighting over the same comb. This inability to avoid clashes is partly down to obstinance, with the SLP, Workers' Revolutionary Party, and Socialist Party of Great Britain being the biggest offenders. All for their very worthy reasons. But one cannnot discount amateurism as well. Since Rishi Sunak came to office, the parties should have determined which seats they were targeting and focused their work accordingly knowing an election wasn't far off. The failure to do so isn't just intra-left clashes, but Galloway's Workers' Party partly filling the vacuum and the much-larger-than-usual clutch of left independents doing their own thing. For those of the Leninist persuasion, the party is supposed to be the memory of the class. How far they are from this ideal can be measured by their inability to learn from past election campaigns.

Predictions are almost as foolish as standing in an election with a party name no one identifies with, but I'm going to venture some forecasts about the performance of the candidates below. Jeremy Corbyn will be re-elected as an independent, and will continue to haunt the brains of the Labour right despite the inevitability of their crushing electoral victory. I also think Galloway is in with a very good chance of retaining Rochdale. With the Labour vote already fraying, though not enough to forestall this election's outcome, and the depravity of Israel undimmed as the establishment continues to minimise and excuse its crimes, Galloway is in with a shout. As for the rest? People Before Profit across the Irish Sea are expected to get quite decent votes off the back of consistent work. Elsewhere a smattering of left independents will save their deposits though none will win, and by and large the party label candidates will do poorly, with a typical range of between 0.5 and 1.5%. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to those for whom this will come as a hammer blow.

Below are listed all the candidacies I'm aware of. If there are any missing, please drop a comment. Please note where a candidacy is underlined, that means it is clashing with another.

Alliance for Green Socialism
Leeds North East - Mike Davies
Lewisham North - John Lloyd

Communist Future
Manchester Central - Caitriona Rylance

Communist League
Manchester Rusholme - Peter Clifford
Tottenham - Pamela Holmes

Communist Party of Britain
Blaenau Gwent - Robert Griffiths
Bury South - Dan Ross
Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket - Darren Turner
Coatbridge and Bellshill - Drew Gilchrist
Edinburgh North and Leith - Richard Shilcock
Glasgow North East - Gary Steele
Hastings and Rye - Nicholas Davies
Ipswich - Freddie Sofar
Leicester South - Ann Green
Lewisham North - Oliver Snelling
Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare - Bob Davenport
Newcastle East and Wallsend - Emma-Jane Phillips
South West Norfolk - Lorraine Douglas
Taunton and Wellington - Rochelle Russell

Left Independents
Aberdeen South - Sophie Molly
Banbury - Cassie Bellingham
Bethnal Green and Stepney - Ajmal Masroor
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk - Ellie Merton
Birmingham Edgbaston - Ammar Waraich
Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley - Mohammad Hafeez
Birmingham Ladywood - Akhmed Yakoob
Birmingham Selly Oak - Kamel Hawwash
Brentford and Isleworth - Zebunisa Rao
Bristol East - Wael Arafat
Cardiff West - John Urquhart
Central Devon - Arthur Price
Chingford and Woodford Green - Faiza Shaheen
Dudley - Shakeela Bibi
East Ham - Tahir Mirza
Eltham and Chislehurst - John Courtneidge
Enfield North - Ertan Karpazli
Feltham and Heston - Damian Read
Frome and East Somerset - Gareth Heathcote
Grantham and Bourne - Charmaine Morgan
Harrow West - Pamela Fitzpatrick
Heywood and Middleton North - Chris Furlong
Holborn St Pancras - Andrew Feinstein
Hove and Portslade - Tanushka Marah
Ilford North - Leanne Mohamad
Ilford South - Syed Siddiqi
Islington North - Jeremy Corbyn
Kensington and Bayswater - Emma Dent Coad
Kingston and Surbiton - Yvonne Tracey
Leicester East - Claudia Webbe
Leicester South - Shockat Adam
Leyton and Wanstead - Shanell Johnson
Liverpool Garston - Sam Gorst
Liverpool Wavertree - Anne San
Mid Cheshire - Helen Clawson
Monmouthshire - Owen Lewis
Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West - Yvonne Ridley
Newport East - Pippa Bartolotti
Oxford East - Jabu Nala-Hartley
Preston - Michael Lavalette
Reading West and Mod Berkshire - Adrian Abbs
Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough - Maxine Bowler
Sittingbourne and Sheppey - Mike Baldock
South Dorset - Giovanna Lewis
Southgate and Wood Green - Karl Vidol
Southport - Sean Halsall
Stockport - Asley Walker
Stockton West - Monty Brack
Stoke-on-Trent Central - Andy Polshaw
Stratford and Bow - Fiona Lali
Stratford and Bow - Steve Headley
Tottenham - Nandita Lal
Tunbridge Wells - Hassan Kassem
Walsall and Bloxwich - Aftab Nawaz
Wells and Mendip Hills - Abi McGuire
West Suffolk - Katie Parker
West Ham and Beckton - Sophia Naqvi
Wigan - Jan Cunliffe
Windsor - David Buckley
Wycombe - Ajaz Rehman

People Before Profit
Belfast North - Fiona Ferguson
Belfast West - Gerry Carroll
Foyle - Shaun Harkin

Scottish Socialist Party
Glasgow East - Liam McLaughlan
Rutherglen - Bill Bonnar

Socialist Equality Party
Holborn and St Pancras - Tom Scripps
Inverness, Skye, and West Rossshire - Darren Paxton

Socialist Labour Party
Bangor Aberconwy - Katherine Jones
Barnsley South - Terry Robinson
Birmingham Perry Bar - Shangara Singh
Camborne and Redruth - Robert Hawkins
Central Ayrhsire - Lois McDaid
Edinburgh North and Leith - David Jacobsen
Forest of Dean - Saiham Sikder
Gloucester - Akhlaque Ahmed
Mansfield - Peter Dean
North Ayrshire and Arran - James McDaid
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport - Robert Hawkins
South Derbyshire - Paul Liversuch

Social Justice Party
Scarborough and Whitby - Asa Jones

Socialist Party of Great Britain
Clapham and Brixton Hill - Bill Martin
Folkestone and Hythe - Andy Thomas

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Aberdeen North - Lucas Grant
Birmingham Erdington - Corinthia Ward
Bristol North East - Dan Smart
Cardiff East - John Williams
Chorley - Martin Powell-Davies
Coventry East - Dave Nellist
Crawley - Robin Burnham
Croydon West - April Ashley
Doncaster North - Andy Hiles
Dundee Central - Jim McFarlane
Folkestone and Hythe - Momtaz Khanom
Gateshead Central and Whickham - Norman Hall
Glasgow North East - Chris Sermanni
Glasgow South - Brian Smith
Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes - Mark Gee
Ilford South - Andy Walker
Islington South and Finsbury - Ethan Saunders
Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham - Michael Whale
Leeds Central and Headingley - Louie Fulton
Leicester West - Steve Score
Liverpool Riverside - Roger Bannister
Mansfield - Karen Seymour
Northampton South - Katie Simpson
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport - Alex Moore
Reading Central - Adam Gillman
Rutherglen - Chris Sermanni
Sheffield Central - Isabelle France
Sheffield Heeley - Mick Suter
Smethwick - Ravaldeep Bath
South West Devon - Ben Davy
Southampton Itchen - Decland Clune
Southampton Test - Maggie Fricker
Southgate and Wood Green - Karl Vidol
Swansea West - Gareth Bromhall
Swindon North - Scott Hunter
Uxbridge and South Ruislip - Gary Harbord
Walthamstow - Nancy Taaffe
West Ham and Beckton - Lois Austin
Worcester - Mark Davies
Worsley and Eccles - Sally Griffiths

Transform
Bishop Auckland - Rachel Maughan
Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor - Brian Agar

Workers' Party GB
Alloa and Grangemouth - Tom Flanagan
Altrincham and Sale West - Amir Burney
Ashton-under-Lyne – Aroma Hassan
Aylesbury – Jan Gajdos
Barking – Hamid Shah
Bath - Matthew Alford
Battersea - Hazel James
Bedford - Prince Sadiq Chaudhury
Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North - James Giles
Birmingham Yardley - Jody McIntyre
Blackburn - Craig Murray
Blaenau Gwent - Choudhry Yasir Iqbal
Bolton North East - Syeda Misbah Kazmi
Bolton South and Walkden - Jack Khan
Bootle - Ian Smith
Bradford South – Harry Boota
Brent East - James Mutimer
Brent West – Nadia Klok
Brentford and Isleworth – Nisar Malik
Bridgwater - Gregory Tanner
Bromsgrove - Aheesha Zahir
Broxtowe - Maqsood Syed
Burnley - Tass Hussain
Burton and Uttoxeter - Azmat Mir
Bury North - Shafat Ali
Bury South - Sameera Ashraf
Caerfyrddin - David Evans
Cambridge - Khalid Abu-Tayyem
Carshalton and Wallington - Atif Rashid
Ceredigion Preseli - Taghrid Al-Mawed
Chatham and Aylesford - Matt Valentine
Cheadle - Tanya Manzoor
Chelmsford - Mark Kenlen
Chelsea and Fulham - Sabi Patwary
Chesham and Amersham - Muhammad Pervez Khan
Chesterfield - Julie Lowe
Cities of London and Westminster - Hoz Shafiei
Coventry East - Paul Bedson
Coventry South - Mohammed Ali Syed
Crawley - Linda Bamieh
Crewe and Nantwich - Phillip Lane
Croydon South - Kulsum Hussin
Croydon West - Ahsan Ullah
Derby South - Chris Williamson
Doncaster Central - Tosh McDonald
Dover and Deal - Colin Tasker
Dudley - Aftab Hussein
Dundee Central - Raymond Mennie
Ealing Central and Acton - Nada Jarche
Ealing North – Sam Habeeb
Ealing Southall - Darsham Singh Azad
Edmonton and Winchmore Hill - Denise Headley
Eltham and Chislehurst - Sean Stewart
Enfield North - Aishat Anifowoshe
Erith and Thamesmead - Mohammed Abu Shahed
Feltham and Heston – Amrit Mann
Gloucester - Steve Gower
Gorton and Denton - Amir Burney
Greenwich and Woolwich - Sheikh Raquib
Hackney South and Shoreditch - Mohammed Hussain
Halifax - Shakir Saghir
Hammersmith and Chiswick - Raj Gill
Harrow East - Sarajulhaq Parwani
Hartlepool - Thomas Dudley
Hastings and Rye - Philip Colley
Havant - Jennifer Alemanno
Hayes and Harlington - Rizwana Karim
Hendon - Imtiaz Palekar
Hornsey and Friern Barnet – Dino Philippos
Ilford North - Shabaz Hussain
Ilford South - Golam Tipu
Kingston and Surbiton - Ali Abdulla
Knowsley - Graham Padden
Leeds Central and Headingley - Owais Rajput
Leeds North East - Dawud Islam
Leeds South - Muhammad Azeem
Leeds West and Pudsey - Jamel El Kheir
Lewisham East - Steph Koffi
Lewisham North - Mian Akbar
Lewisham West and East Dulwich – Gwenton Sloley
Leyton and Wanstead - Mahtab Aziz
Lincoln - Linda Richardson
Luton North - Waheed Akbar
Luton South and South Bedfordshire - Yasin Rehman
Manchester Central - Parham Hashemi
Manchester Rusholme - Mohhamed Bilal
Manchester Withington - Elizabeth Greenwood
Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare – Anthony Cole
Mid Derbyshire - Josiah Uche
Middlesbrough and Thornaby East - Mehmoona Ameen
Mitcham and Morden – Mehmood Jamshed
Newark - Collan Siddique
Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend - Muhammed Ghori
Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor - Minhajul Suhon
North Durham - Chris Bradburn
North East Cambridgeshire - Clayton Payne
North Somerset - Suneil Basu
Northampton North - Khalid Razzaq
Nottingham East - Issan Ghazni
Nottingham South - Paras Ghazni
Nuneaton - John Homer
Oldham East and Saddleworth - Shanaz Saddique
Oxford East - Zaid Marham
Pendle and Clitheroe - Syed Hashmi
Peterborough - Amjad Hussain
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport - Guy Haywood
Poplar and Limehouse - Kamran Khan
Putney - Heiko Khoo
Queen's Park and Maida Vale - Irakli Menabde
Rawmarsh and Conisbrough - Robert Watson
Redditch - Mohammed Amin
Richmond and Northallerton - Louise Dickens
Rochdale - George Galloway
Rochester and Strood - John Innes
Romford - Zhafaran Qayum
Rossendale and Darwen - Tayab Ali
Rotherham - Taukir Iqbal
Salford - Mustafa Abdullah
Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough - Mark Tyler
Sheffield Central - Caitlin Hardy
Sheffield Hallam - Mohammed Moui-Tabrizy
Sheffield Heeley - Steven Roy
Sheffield South East - Muzafar Rahman
Shipley - Waqas Khan
Slough - Adnan Shabbir
Smethwick - Nahim Rubani
South Northamptonshire – Mick Stott
Southampton Test - Wajahat Shaukrat
Southgate and Wood Green - Geoff Moseley
Stalybridge and Hyde - Audel Shirin
Stockport - Ayesha Khan
Stourbridge - Mohammed Ramzan
Stratford and Bow – Halima Khan
Streatham and Croydon North - Wasseem Sherwani
Stretford and Urmston - Khalila Choudhury
Sutton Coldfield - Wajad Burkey
Tamworth - Adam Goodfellow
Thurrock - Yousaff Khan
Tooting - Tarik Hussain
Torbay – Paul Moor
Tottenham - Jennifer Obaseki
Twickenham - Umair Malik
Wakefield and Rothwell - Keith Mason
Wallasey - Philip Bimpson
Walthamstow - Imran Arshad
Watford - Khalid Chohan
Widnes and Halewood - Michael Murphy
Wimbledon - Aaron Mafi
Windsor - Simran Dhillon
Wolverhampton South East - Athar Warraich
Wolverhampton West - Vikas Chopra
Worsley and Eccles - Nasri Barghouti
Wycombe - Khalil Ahmed
Wythenshawe and Sale East - John Barstow

Workers Revolutionary Party
Hackney South and Shoreditch - Carol Small
Hammersmith and Chiswick - Scott Dore
Liverpool Garston - Frank Swinney
Oxford East - Brandon French
Peckham - Mariatu Kargbo

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