Gorton & Denton by-election thread

[fromorbit]

This dramatic byelection to be held on Thursday 26 February 2026 is looking likely to have a confrontation over sex and gender with the Conservative's just announced candidate Charlotte Cadden being a trustee for Sex Matters. Another factor is with a large Muslim population in the area the group Muslim Vote has endorsed the Green candidate despite one of their aims to be remove teaching about LGBT issues from schools when religious parents object. Obviously in conflict with Green policy.

Candidates

• Angeliki Stogia will be the Labour candidate in this year's election. Ms Stogia moved to the UK from Greece in the 1990s and has served as a councillor in Whalley Range since 2004.
• Reform UK have selected GB News presenter Matt Goodwin as their candidate. He studied at the University of Salford and went on to have a career as a commentator and academic.
• The Liberal Democrats have selected local campaigner Jackie Pearcey as their candidate. She lives in the constituency and previously won 2,600 votes at the 2017 elections.
• The Green Party have put forward Hannah Spencer to stand for them at the by-election. She is a plumber by trade she is from Bolton and has lived in Greater Manchester all her life, and is based in Hale where she is a councilor. She doesn't believe biology is important in deciding gender.
• The Conservative Party have chosen former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden as their candidate. She served for 30 years in GMP and London's Met.
• The Re-join EU Party have announced that Joseph O'Meachair will be their candidate. He is a member of the party's executive committee and lives in the North West.

Sebastian Moore (Social Democratic Party)
The Social Democratic Party announced on Friday 30 January that the current SDP North West Chair Sebastian Moore will be running as their candidate in the by-election.

Nicholas Brendan Buckley Advance UK

He is a British charity worker and political figure who previously represented Reform UK.

Dan Clarke is the Libertarian Party candidate

Sir Oink A-Lot
Sir Oink A-Lot is The Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate

https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.gorton-and-denton.by.2026-02-26/gorton-and-denton/

The just announced Conservative candidate has serious form:
Former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden is a lesbian served for 30 years as a Police Officer, both for Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police - Charlotte is a trustee of the charity Sex Matters, a member of the LGB Alliance Business Forum. She coordinates the Women’s Rights Network in Greater Manchester, In 2023, she set up the national Police SEEN.

Galloway's Worker's Party have now decided not to stand. They may have attracted a bunch of Muslim votes which will now go elsewhere.

Any hustings are going to be rather interesting.

This is all starting to come across as bullying a poster ( who always posts thoughtfully and reasonably), and for no reason other than he is male. Personally finding it very unpleasant and uncalled for.

Reform sent out a deceiving letter

The Mill
Exclusive: Reform UK just broke electoral law in Gorton and Denton
https://manchestermill.co.uk/exclusive-reform-uk-just-broke-electoral-law-in-gorton-denton/

Reform faces police investigation over ‘concerned neighbour’ byelection letters
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/06/reform-police-investigation-letter-byelection-campaign-gorton-denton

That's low. Will the EC take it seriously?

Women are often quick to soothe and defend men.

Its very deep conditioning.

The value of this space as one that centres women has been very long and hard fought for.

This is a useful object lesson.

This board is a good place to practise setting out boundaries. See what happens when you do.

And equally, neither are you.

Bullying?

Because I called out a man who mansplains, NAMALTS and self identifies as stuff on FWR? Catch yerself on.🙄

It does come across as bullying. Especially as the poster in question has always been perfectly reasonable.

Bullying, my arse.

@1984Now I really hope you are reading this and seeing female socialisation playing out in real time.

FWR has negotiated MRAs, TRAs, innumerable fall outs, disagreements, DDOS attacks, doxxing, hacking, relentless slander, court injunctions, bots, data scrapes (Hi Aston, ya big fuckwits!), and more.

The central principle is simple but not easy - its a feminist board. That's it.

Any man or woman could usefully spend some time reading what women talk about and how they talk, and maybe consciously consider how it changes when men are involved. And why. And what the value and necessity of having a women-centred chat board is.

I can recall some threads where men were rude, aggressive and dismissive of women I’ve always been fine with asking them to respect our space.

A poster who just posts content that I don’t find combative I’m ok with. I haven’t read many posts from the pp so I’m not following closely but from the few I’ve seen I’m not objecting.

Gotta love the update to that MMill article: a typo in the constituency name in the printers' apology for breaking electoral law by failing to include the party imprint in the original leaflets is truly farcical.

I'm calling it a day on posting here, although I'll keep reading. My interest in all things covered by MN hasn't diminished.

In my case, I simply hate to witness bullying, bad behaviour, uncalled for rudeness without standing up and calling it out. I wish more people would do this rather than joining in, keeping their head down or staying silent.

That's a shame, and it makes me feel ashamed too. There are certainly people here who have appreciated your input and your thoughful posting.

Opinions on what constitutes 'bad behaviour' vary.

What are you ashamed of?

If feminism simply means displaying reverse bigotry and prejudice towards men, rather than positively standing up for the dignity and integrity of female people and the female experience then I'm sure plenty of women would disidentify with that label. 'Feminism' when it is like this is no better than any other form of Intersectionalist identity politics as far as I'm concerned.

Unless someone is obviously trolling, infringing the rules, behaving badly, being needlessly provocative or making disparaging personal or overtly sexist comment then there are no rules over who can comment or contribute. We're all in this together and we all have to take responsibility.

It makes me feel grubby ( and disappointed) to be associated with bullying and by posting here I'm associated.

Having a female.centred space is not 'bigotry'. If you think that you are misunderstanfing everything.

Associated with what? Or whom? We are all.adults (I hope) discussing things. Sometimes agreeing, and sometimes not.

Yes, it is female centred, with a focus on gender ideology and its negative impacts upon women and children, but that doesn't mean men cannot contribute. We need men to stand up as well.

Who said men cant contribute?

Why do they need to contribute to this particular space?

I've explained quite clearly that I can't stand by and ignore bullying. What was 1984's crime, other than to be male? There have been truly ignorant and provocative posters on this board and yet people choose to pick on someone who is thoughtful, respectful and considered.