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.

Not at all. If he were a woman no one would have a problem defining his campaign as a total shambles. Instead it's a discussion of his view of what it surreal, which wasn't at all surreal.
Male gaze- and his gaze at that.

It's not hard to point out that violent Islamist extremists are condemned by most Muslims in the UK. Why didn't Spencer say that? She actually made it look like she is unaware of complexity and nuance among the people she now represents. Giving an interview to 5 pillars didnt help, either.

I think it's quite plausible that Hannah and Zack were just giving interviews to anyone who stuck a microphone in front of them, didn't know who 5 Pillocks are and lazily assumed Muslim = progressive.

Mothin Ali, I'm not so sure about. I think there's a very good chance he knows who they are.

Mind you, Zack was on stage very recently at an SWP organised rally, so he obviously isn't massively choosy about his allies.

Naive is quite possible. Wilful naivety may also have precluded too much diligence.

It was confusing before the penny dropped!

I mean Tim Stanley (lovely chap) was hunting Polanski through the streets of Gorton to try and get some quotes, only to discover that Greens don't talk to the Telegraph.

Maybe Tim should have put on a keffiyeh and claimed to be representing Faisal's Diamond Geezer Anti-Zionist Podcast, and then Zack would have given a quote.

The Guardian can also be hysterical in the other direction.
But if you wouldn't accept op-ed journalism painting all Reform voters as fascist, or ponderous pseudo-psychological theorising on the psycho-sexual reasons for TERFism then it also makes sense to question the very doom laden depictions of Green voters. Otherwise you float of into the unreality of the US election.
The Times is spooked. Maybe rightly I don't know maybe the Green policies will be a disaster if they become a Parliamentary majority. But bioficating on "parasitism" or assuming anyone voting for issues important to them but not the Times is "Sectarian" is not helpful to reducing the very divisiveness the article laments.
It probably helps to read the Guardian and The Times. Watch the BBC and Al Jazeera.

To be fair Islamism as a word has a specific meaning that's seperate to Islamic. The closest analogy is the difference between Christian Nationalism and Christian. Most Islamic Terrorism is probably Islamist terrorism - for example that inspired by ISIS. But you could in theory have Islamic (in that it's committed by a Muslim whose actions are motivated by their faith) Terrorism that isn't Islamist. And Reform/Goodwin use the term so freely it loses all meaning anyway. The pressure groups Muslim Voice very decidedly aren't Islamist for example.
It isn't wrong/running scared to use the term Islamic Terrorism rather than Islamist as its a broader term and also avoids accidentally innacurately describing an attackers motivation But Reform didn't invent the word.

It’s definitely not. MissScarletInTheBallroom is firmly GC and I knew her on another site, we had a chat about it in code on a thread once 😂

Mothin did an interview for 5 pillocks months back before Denton. As it is a big think in British Muslim circles he would know about it. It is like we all know the positions of the Mail and guardian. Obviously the militaristic stuff 5 pillatrs comes up with is going to look fine to Mothin. The fact it ran into huge trouble for homophobia with impress regulator is something he would also likely to know I mean the wiki article covers all the controversy it is very easy to find.

anyway as we discussed on the Green thread I think the upcoming Green conference is potentially going to be a huge flashpoint. With extreme anti Israel motions, an attempt to ban women having sport except as a mixed category I think there could be some real drama.

The issue the Greens are heading the same way YP went extreme ideologues from different factions wanting to push the party in different directions. ZP will need to manage all this. We will see if he can pull it off.

I think both he and Hannah Spencer have bitten off way more than they can chew.

They really haven't.

The Greens are a minority party with one more MP and no real power for them to get their teeth into. Never mind struggle with chewing.

I know perfectly well what I meant to say, without you putting words in my mouth, thanks. You have your opinions, and I have mine. There’s a long running thread discussing the Greens on here, and we’re all fairly well informed.

Try responding to the post I was responding to, that @fromorbit made. She knows the Green Party well.

Huh?

Huh what? It has zero to do with you.

Huh what? It has zero to do with you.

You talk in code to other Mnetters on Mnet threads? You think the rest of us aren't intrigued by that? Shouldn't ask you questions?

@TooBigForMyBoots

You didn’t ask a question, and it isn’t anything to do with you. And no, don’t bother, I’m not engaging with you any further. It’s quite clear to me why you ignored @fromorbit’s detailed post referencing specific issues to jump on my one liner.

And obviously we weren’t going to reveal who either of us was on the other site, that was why it was in code 🙄 it wasn’t a big deal.

I read @fromorbit's post and responded to it.

Your one liner interested me. Why are you talking in code on Mnet? How many other Mnetters know this code? Are the rest of us being used?

Signing off for now by bumping this excellent post by @SionnachRuadh- apropos of nothing.

You have not responded to this post, @TooBigForMyBoots it was literally the one before mine. Stop being disingenuous.

The post was literally the one before my one line post responding to it. So no, you haven’t.

Anyway, this has been an excellent thread with some fantastic political insight, I won’t contribute further to it being derailed.

Hmm, I smell something.