'They all know his name': Corbyn reawakens Labour loyalties in Yorkshire
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Version 0 of 1. In deepest West Yorkshire lies one of the constituencies that decides British elections. Keighley, retaken from Labour by the Conservatives in 2010, was held in May’s election by Kris Hopkins, who increased his majority to just over 3,000. That was despite a concerted campaign by Labour, as well as Ukip, which increased its share of the vote by 8.4% to 5,662. Related: Today at the Conservative party conference – as it happened As the Tories gather in Manchester, the question is whether their hold on the seat can be maintained at a time when the long-established Cameron is being challenged by Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. “He’s captured their imagination in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible,” said Sally Lyas, director of the sixth form at Holy Family school in Keighley, of the new Labour leader. “They all know his name – most of them couldn’t name many others apart from David Cameron – and they’ve generally been talking about politics more than ever since he was elected.” One student happy to discuss the merits of the man seen as either Labour’s bearded messiah or its wrecking ball was Eva Hopkins, the thoughtful 18-year-old daughter of Keighley’s MP. Though loyally insisting she would probably have voted Conservative had she been old enough, like the rest of her friends Eva seemed disappointed by the media’s obsession with Corbyn’s appearance and what they all viewed as minor transgressions: such as not singing the national anthem at a memorial to the Battle of Britain. “He was respectful. If he had been stood there checking his phone it would have been different,” she said. At Hussain’s barbers, 37-year-old Banaris Iqbal, a volunteer at a radio station, said he thought Corbyn could win back some of the support Labour had lost in in the town. He blamed Ann Cryer, the Labour MP from 1997 to 2010, for alienating Kashmiri Muslims such as himself. “She was always talking about forced marriages and grooming, and blaming Mirpuris,” he said, referring to the town in Pakistani-administered Kashmir where many West Yorkshire Muslims have roots. “I think that spoiled things for Labour.” In 2002, Cryer was cast out by some in her party when she became the first public figure in Britain to talk out about allegations of “young Asian lads” grooming underage white girls in Keighley. This week, she said she thought Corbyn would do well in the constituency’s urban Asian areas. “I’m very fond of Jeremy, but he is very much part of the politically correct London Labour scene,” she said. “I think there will be a lot of Asian boys and girls who will be quite attracted to him and know all about his past.” Meanwhile, in the poorer parts of the constituency, voters see David Cameron’s party as a rich elite. In a bakery specialising in Kashmiri sweets, Sami Rao, 26, spoke for many when he said “Tories are for the rich people”, and contrasted his view of Cameron’s party by describing Corbyn as a “down to earth guy”. Back at Holy Family, the sixth formers were ambivalent about the EU but universally in favour of immigration. “I think it’s good that we let people from other countries in. I know a lot of people criticise them for taking jobs, but they come here to have a better life and a lot of the time they are doing jobs that others don’t want to do,” said Caitlin Arnold, 17. “It’s our humanitarian obligation to help refugees,” said Jack Lewis, 17, who thought he might have voted Conservative in May if he had been able to. Related: Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech – the verdict | The panel In the Fleece pub in Haworth, one of the pretty rural villages in the constituency, retired teacher Steve Illingworth, 70, nursed a pint and a whisky chaser. He had voted for the Yorkshire independence party, Yorkshire First, in the general election, but said he would switch back to Labour under Corbyn. “Both my sons and my estranged wife paid £3 to sign up and vote for him,” he said. “There’s a feeling that the political establishment hasn’t realised just how pissed off people are.” Others were less optimistic. Kevin Parker, 65, another retired teacher, drinking in Keighley’s Wetherspoons pub, said he used to be involved with the Labour party about 30 years ago and was on the “Bennite” wing. But he voted for Ukip for the first time in May because he is “sick of the rest of them [other parties]. I’d like to come out of Europe and have a little bit more control on immigration. I live down by the mosque, both my neighbours are Muslim and they’re very nice, but for a lot of people the town is changing too quickly.” In Ilkey, a spa town which is the poshest – and most Tory – part of the Keighley constituency, worries about Corbyn are more pronounced. Full-time mum Charlotte Illington, 33, voted Labour 10 years ago but is now Conservative. She switched to the Tories for financial reasons, “because of what it would bring to our family life, about taxes and things affecting our income”. Shopping on the high street, engineer Jenny Godsland, 43, said she was the archetypal floating voter. She voted Labour in 2010 but switched to the Tories in May. But she insisted: “I couldn’t vote for Labour now ... I don’t think we can afford to renationalise the utilities. I don’t think we can afford to renationalise the railway. I just don’t know where we’re going to get the money from for all this stuff. I do believe in keeping Trident.” There may be no unanimity of opinion about the state of the parties in the Keighley constituency, but what is clear is that his arrival as Labour leader has got voters talking. |