There was no sign of life inside Labour’s campaign headquarters in Rochdale on Tuesday morning. With just two and a half weeks to go until the town’s key byelection, the office ought to have been a hive of activity with the party seeking to defend and perhaps even build on the 9,668 majority left by Rochdale’s last MP, Tony Lloyd, who died in January.
Instead, the shutters were down after Labour withdrew from the race and disowned its candidate in an antisemitism scandal. On Monday night, party high command ordered all canvassers to down tools. They were to knock on no more doors, take down any Labour posters and behave as if the byelection was not happening.
