In last year’s general election the middle-class constituency of Eastwood was a fierce tussle between Labour and the SNP.
However, in the early hours of yesterday it became clear that the Conservatives had come through the middle to secure a sensational victory. Jackson Carlaw, the veteran campaigner and former car salesman, overtook his rivals at the third time of asking.
Finding himself on the winner’s podium at last, he ascribed his victory to being in touch with aspirational, “meritocratic” values of the East Renfrewshire community.
However, the constituency is home to the majority of Scotland’s Jewish community and there were strong suggestions that tactical voting had sealed Labour’s fate.
Ken Macintosh, the former Labour leadership contender who has represented the area for nine years, found himself in third place, his share of the vote plummeting by a humiliating 9 per cent.
Advertisement
One well-placed source insisted that many had found themselves unable to cast their ballot for a party associated with Ken Livingstone, who was suspended after claiming that Hitler was a Zionist.
The community leader said: “A lot of people did not want to vote Labour purely and simply because of the antisemitic issue. There is absolutely no doubt about it. It cost Labour the seat.”
Another Jewish voter added: “I have voted Labour in the past three elections, but I’ll never do so again.”
When asked if he thought the result had been affected by Labour’s tarnished image among the Jewish electorate, Mr Macintosh declined to answer directly. Instead he said: “I don’t want to offer a thought-out analysis at this stage. If you look at the bigger picture, we have been in a difficult place since the referendum.
“The Labour party did the right thing. It’s more important that we kept the UK together than any of us and our individual prospects. But we have paid a price because we were portrayed as being the establishment rather than the party of change.”
Advertisement
Mr Macintosh had invited Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former director of communications, to campaign on his behalf. However, his attempts to spin his and Labour’s woes away sounded less than convincing when he added: “I don’t doubt our values will hold true in the end. I think we have begun to win the argument but we certainly aren’t winning the votes at this stage.”
The truth is that the MSP, who won a consolation list seat, and his party did everything in their power to distance themselves from the perceived association with antisemitism.
The importance of the Jewish vote to Labour in Eastwood was highlighted by a tweet by Jim Murphy sent on the eve of the poll. The former Scottish secretary, who held the seat between 1997 and last year, wrote: “Been invited to many events in my old constituency. Said no to them all — except tonight.
“I’ll be at Jewish commmunity’s Yom Ha’Shoah event.”
However, it seems that Labour’s day of atonement in East Renfrewshire is a long way off.