Statement on Labour & Conservative party endorsements

Background

On 5 June we announced endorsements for Naz Shah, Afzal Khan, and Yasmin Qureshi. This was the first of a small batch of Labour MPs that we had planned to endorse in line with our candidate selection process outlined here and shared with TMV supporters at our recent Town Hall.

For the sake of transparency, the candidates we intended to endorse included:

• Naz Shah
• Afzal Khan
• Yasmin Qureshi
• Rosenna Allin-Khan
• Zarah Sultana
• John McDonnell
• ⁠Imran Hussein
• Diane Abbott
• Apsana Begum
• Richard Burgon
• Clive Lewis
• Stephen Timms

Out of 206 Labour MPs our process had identified 5.3% of such MPs to be (a) pro-ceasefire; (b) history of being very supportive of the Muslim community; and (c) broadly retaining the support of their local community.

Our Decision

We appreciate the strength of feeling in our community around endorsing any Labour candidate at this moment in time, and we are also sympathetic to that viewpoint.

In the interest of unity and coordination – which is TMV’s whole reason for existence – we will now not be endorsing any Labour or Conservative candidates in this election. We will be maintaining a neutral stance on constituencies where the above 11 candidates are standing, and any already announced.

We had made our decision consistent with the methodology set out several months ago but did not fully take into account was how truly toxic the Labour brand has become with each passing month within the Muslim community in 2024. The most recent example of how low Labour has fallen is the Faiza Shaheen fiasco they have presided over.

We listen and evolve in line with feedback, changing circumstances and the wish to prioritise unity as much as possible.

We would like to clearly state here that we fully respect the contribution of the aforementioned Labour MPs in tackling Islamophobia, tackling Prevent and serving their local communities. And if any of these MPs were to go independent we would be happy to endorse them.

Sharing our working

For those who take an interest in how we came up with the above list of names, we considered the following factors:

• Did this MP back the ceasefire – and how vociferously?
• Did this MP continue to back the ceasefire and campaign in that direction?
• Did this MP resign from a shadow cabinet position?
• What broader work has this MP done for the Muslim community (e.g. APPG on Islamophobia, APPG for Palestine, APPG on Islamic Finance, broader support for key policy issues on topics such as Islamophobia, Uighur Muslims, halal student finance, Kashmir and Hindutva, LGBTQ and Islam, Islamic schooling, position on prevent and counter-terrorism legislation, Islamic charity issues )
• The MP’s historic voting record on broader issues.
• How much would Keir Starmer like to be rid of these MPs? (and we would want to do the opposite)

Conclusions

The Muslim Vote is a grassroots campaign, collecting together umbrella bodies, NGOs, local groups, businesses and leaders all under one banner – united in genuinely making the Muslim Vote count.

As with any grassroots initiative, decisions will be made that are imperfect, perhaps incorrect, and that may need to be revisited on occasion. But throughout all this there are a few key things we hold to, to help us find our compass:

• Clear and clean intention to serve Allah (SWT) alone.
• Helping our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
• Listen to our community – positive or constructive criticism.
• Listen to our shura and supporting organisations – positive or constructive criticism.
• Istikhara and dua.