I'm not Cursing my Own MP

... although that's largely because she (Shabhana Mahmood, Labour, Birmingham Ladywood) cursed herself by abstaining in the ceasefire vote as she was whipped, and as reported in the Birmingham Dispatch has rightly drawn significant backlash for this. She even put out a mealy mouthed statement about the rules of war reflecting the statement from Starmer that started the row. I'm therefore not feeling the need to intervene at this point.

It's helped by the fact that this constituency is one of the ones with the biggest Moslem populations in the country. You will see from the handy graphic that the reality does not represent the completely Islamic Birmingham that the gammons fantasize about.

I am delighted to say that there have been protests and plans are being made to take her out at the next election:

Protest: We went along to the protest in Alum Rock to speak with residents. The demo was peaceful with a lot of families and children present. Some very impassioned speeches were made, many of which called on constituents to use their vote to remove Mahmood from her seat. We spoke to a young woman called Maleeha Khan who said:

There are innocent children dying. Everyday we're seeing kids losing their parents, losing every family member that they have and yet our voices are not doing anything. And people that we've voted to represent us are failing to do so. We will no longer vote for these people if they don't represent our views.

Mohammed Jahangir, 55, a researcher in Engineering at the University of Birmingham lives in Harborne — Gill’s constituency — but came to the nearest protest he could find. He referenced the UK position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said: “We want the UK Government to send the same message that oppression of this type shouldn't be happening.”

Backlash: Lib Dem councillor for Aston Ayoub Khan, who stood against Mahmood for the Ladywood seat in 2010, was at the protest and made a speech. He told The Dispatch he is “confident there will be a massive turnout against Shabana Mahmood” and that “she will lose her seat”. Source

That kinda sounds a bit prophetic doesn't it? 'She will lose her seat'?

It would be especially prophetic because I would love to see that sizeable Labour majority overturned and get something else (don't worry, the right whingers in this constituency are so few and far between even if you divide the Labour vote FPTP would still be very unlikely to give us a Con member so I'm not bothered about that). She does her casework but she does exactly what she's whipped to do and in common with the rest of the Labour party no longer offers an effective opposition and it's time. A change would be overturning nearly ninety years of history and I looove to expect the impossible!

Images: religious composition table ONS, election tables Wikipedia