Are Labour faking photos in Bristol?
Written by Mark Pack on 26th April 2007 – 1:49 pmHere’s the evidence from Bristol. Judge for yourself.
First, the background: Busharat Ali is the Labour candidate in Lawrence Hill ward, Bristol. He didn’t like being attacked in a Liberal Democrat leaflet over Blair and Iraq.
He responded with a leaflet that said: “I was on the National March in London against the Iraq war” and had this photo next to those words:
The photo does not have a caption and, being next to the text it is, is clearly meant to illustrate him being on the march against the Iraq war. The photo is a pretty poor quality in the original Labour leaflet by the way, hence the rather pixilated image above. (And to check the context, you can view the full Labour leaflet here).
Now here’s the funny thing - have a look at this photo, which is from http://moonbatmedia.com/ceasefire_now_050806/
Looks familiar doesn’t it - save that it is a different person at the front of the photo. Oh, and this photo is really one of a group of pro-Hezbollah supporters rather than people marching against the Iraq war.
So here are the questions:
a. Is the photo in the Labour leaflet genuine?
b. And even if it is, is it really a photo of him opposing the war in Iraq or is it really a photo of him supporting Hezbollah?
Posted in News
26th April 2007 at 1:54 pm
The Hezbollah post behind him also appears to have been photoshopped over.
The candidate also appears to have similar the same pessimism as the rest of the Labour party. He said (here):
“I’m being hopeful, but I hope to win more than 700 votes.”
Labour came second last time with 873 votes.
26th April 2007 at 2:04 pm
Even the extremely low resolution of the faked image can’t hide the poor photoshopping…. you could rest a drink on that head.
26th April 2007 at 2:07 pm
Forgive me, but what exactly does Iraq have to do with local issues?
26th April 2007 at 2:48 pm
It’s a city centre ward where Iraq is still the biggest issue on the doorsteps. Would you expect candidates to ignore it?
26th April 2007 at 2:48 pm
Well if one of the candidates is lying about Iraq I guess that shows what his character is like.
26th April 2007 at 2:58 pm
“I guess that shows what his character is like”
And that alone makes it an issue.
26th April 2007 at 3:01 pm
The er slight suspicion that this picture has been doctored doesn’t mean he didn’t go though does it? Even if the Photoshop police catch him. What were the Lib Desm there saying to wind him up anyway? Where they being truthful? I have heard tell that they’re often not you know …
In Mcr GE 2005 we had the Lib Dem candidate appearing to have three ears as his little bod had been inserted twice on a picture of a police patrol car. Rather similar to this job in Bristol in composition. Though easier to get a substitute picture I’d have thought as there are so many police cars in Mcr - contrary to LD claims. And didn’t a Tory do this on the South Coast somewhere? With a placard?
The Lib Dems here even take pictures with blank placards on them … and photoshop whatever they want in later … and there was that David Alton and the mattress he carried round for years in Liverpool in order to facilitate photo opps of him clearing it away from dozens of alleys.
What’s that they say about glass houses? Nationally I’m sure there is far more flirting with the truth on Lib Dem leaflets than on all the other parties’ put together.
After all it is recommended in th campaigning manual isn’t it?
26th April 2007 at 3:06 pm
Actually his character was already an issue on the doorstep - he is definitely a “character” and this development isnt surprising at all.
26th April 2007 at 3:17 pm
That’s not the march against the Iraq War, but the one against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon last summer. Perhaps he was at neither?
26th April 2007 at 3:21 pm
That really is pretty bad. Crude and grossly dishonest.
It must have gone through quite a few hands in the Bristol Labour Party too. An important question for them is did their Bristol West parliamentary candidate approve it - he is known to be taking a VERY close personal interest in the campaign. Both the council candidate and PPC should consider their positions very carefully - why did NOBODY in Bristol Labour say, “hang on gang, isn’t this a bit, er, dishonest?”
26th April 2007 at 3:26 pm
HAHAHAHa, WORST. PHOTOCHOPPING. EVAR!
seriously though, that looks like it was done by a five year old. the fact that the source wasnt even an anti-iraq war march makes it all the better
26th April 2007 at 3:38 pm
James: The Bristol West PPC is Paul Smith - a former cllr chair of the Bristol Labour Party. It is inconceivable that an attack leaflet like that would go out without him having seen it and authorised it. There’s no way to prove that I guess. He’s sure to be damaged though. And the agent is the Chair of Bristol West Labour Party too. Is everyone tainted?
Labour are on the ropes in Bristol, they’ve got nothing to lose by gambling like that. Well, nothing except the hope of ever winning back Bristol West anyway!
26th April 2007 at 3:41 pm
The attempt by James to implicate other Labour people is crude and grossly dishonest to use his own words back at him. Do you have so little respect for your opponents that you think a PPC or anyone serious would approve this piece of low-grade mallarkey.
Hopefully your leaders will not chicken out of printing the comment now awaiting moderation (these last 35 minutes) which points out some of the precedents involving the other parties.
26th April 2007 at 3:44 pm
Ha ha ha, they’ve nixxed the comment pointing out instances of Tories and Liberals doing the same kind of thing.
You can see it on my blog where I’ve bravely run your story and the riposte which the poster kindly forwarded to me as an entirely untouched up screen grab.
26th April 2007 at 4:09 pm
He may as well have gone the whole hog and photoshopped Shergar in the background.
I could use his haircut to line my shelves up…
26th April 2007 at 4:16 pm
I don’t think it was photoshop. Looks more like scissors and pritt stick!
Joking aside, even when badly pixelated, you can see the fakery because the pixel blocks are different sizes between the main picture and the head.
26th April 2007 at 4:39 pm
It was Gordon Brown that did it not Mr Ali. Ming Campbell taught him how to do it but “forgot” to tell him to rasterize. Lord Levy was also on the scene and John Photoshoppe the DPM stood guard. This goes all the way to the top. But not the Queen, god bless her. Not quite that far.
Ming’s losing his marbles what with this “lies over substance” initiative of his. He’s finding he cannot even tell the truth when he’s with his coalition chum Gordy.
Bush-a-rat Ali has a stonking anti-war name and is completely innocent of this crime.
26th April 2007 at 4:41 pm
Good to see Bird Watcher got through security after all. Well done you free speechers.
26th April 2007 at 5:03 pm
It is not the Labour member that is the inposter it is the guy that is in the original picture!
26th April 2007 at 5:07 pm
I’ve made an improved version of the image if Mr Ali would care to use it.
26th April 2007 at 5:22 pm
I wonder how many Lib-Dem-Photoshop-Hours have been burned up this afternoon?
26th April 2007 at 5:34 pm
“Do you have so little respect for your opponents that you think a PPC or anyone serious would approve this piece of low-grade mallarkey”
Chris - Yes, I’ve met them.
26th April 2007 at 5:34 pm
Dear all
I was debating whether to award you with mre from Mr Ali or not? I have decided to blight your lives so here it is, try not to laugh too much:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6v5QpdY7E
26th April 2007 at 5:35 pm
*more* that is
26th April 2007 at 5:45 pm
HEHEHEHEEEE!!! Priceless! That is so worth watching
Did he record it over an old tape of the Monaco grand-prix or something?
PS That looked like him talking with old, ranting anarchist Ian Bone half-way through….
26th April 2007 at 5:49 pm
The slightly serious point here is that yet again we see a Labour man vigourously protesting that he doesn’t actually hold with Labour party policy! It makes you wonder why some people bother to stick with Labour at all.
26th April 2007 at 5:52 pm
Ahahahahahaha! Thank you, Mr Kent… I’ve blogged that.
26th April 2007 at 5:53 pm
Even if your point about the photos is correct, your claim that the latter is actually a picture of people “supporting Hezbollah” is nonsense. It’s a photo of a protest against the Lebanon war, calling for a ceasefire. There was a contingent of Hezbollah supporters on this march, but that doesn’t alter the fact that to characterise the entire march as “pro-Hezbollah” is a gross misrepresentation - rather like calling the Liberal Democrats a revolutionary socialist party simply because they had a presence on the 2003 anti-war march. Please publish a correction.
26th April 2007 at 6:06 pm
Racists! Islamophobes! How dare you question the integrity of a member of the vibrant ethnic community? Next thing you’ll be claiming Labour turns a blind eye to vote-rigging by ethnics, when we all know it’s only the LibDems and Tories who do that.
26th April 2007 at 6:06 pm
A fair point from Mr Holmes.
26th April 2007 at 6:11 pm
yawn
26th April 2007 at 6:14 pm
Oh no, please don’t tell me that video was the real thing. Come back Siôn Simon, all is forgiven!
26th April 2007 at 7:03 pm
This is more dodgy than the dodgy dossier which Labour claimed was the basis for the evidence of supporting Bush’s war in Iraq.
26th April 2007 at 9:11 pm
Wow
I knew you could do wonderful things with Photoshop.
Do you think it could be used to super-impose some policies onto David Cameron as he seems unable to produce any himself.
26th April 2007 at 9:13 pm
Tim Holmes: if you go back and read what I wrote again, you’ll see that I said the photo was of a group of pro-Hezbollah supporters. I think that’s a fair description of the group of people on the march who are in that photo. That isn’t making a comment about other people on the march or the purpose of the march overall.
26th April 2007 at 9:41 pm
This is all getting too silly for words, but perhaps I may be allowed to speak up for the poor chap – someone’s got to! He’s obviously made a big mistake here, and his videos are embarrassing beyond belief, but we still have no precise reason to doubt his word that he “opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from the beginning,” and that he “was on the National March in London against the Iraq war.”
Personally, I’m inclined to believe him, and the reason would be my own personal recollection of Lib Dem tactics in the 2005 general election. In my constituency, the Lib Dem candidate unseated the sitting Labour MP. During the run up, she was portrayed in Lib Dem leaflets basically as a war-monger, poodle of Blair and Bush. The somewhat flimsy basis for this presentation was a quotation from her to the effect that a vote in parliament was unnecessary merely to mandate the redeployment of troops in Iraq prior to the assault on Fallujah.
The trouble is that the overall picture being presented was so far from the truth of the matter, which is that she was one of the few Labour MP’s to vote against the Iraq war in the key parliamentary divisions. If only there had been a few more like her. I voted Lib Dem, as I tend to do, but it was very much in spite of, not because of, these tactics.
26th April 2007 at 10:34 pm
Better watch the Busharat video quick - he has removed the second one which was even funnier! So it will not take him too long to remove the first!
Shame I have them saved of course - I wonder if they may reappear?
Tim
PS I am sitting on even funnier photos from another Labour candidate in Bristol - will be appearing on the blog tonight!
(and it is a laugh at my own expense)
27th April 2007 at 9:44 am
Tim Holmes : If you go to the original photo source (URL in original post), you will see pictures of Hezbollah flags being tied to the lampposts in Parliament Square.
They are the yellow ones with green Arabic script and a raised hand holding an AK47.
They are being raised 4 minutes (see Big Ben) after the key photo in pretty much the same location.
I think then it is fair to characterise that portion of the crowd as being broadly pro-Hezbollah.
Also on that site is video footage of the crowd chanting “We are all Hezbollah”.
27th April 2007 at 11:14 am
Watch it Neil, now you’re using facts to back up the argument. That’s not fair!
27th April 2007 at 12:08 pm
Busharat has removed ALL videos in a desperate attempt to hide what an idiot he is!
Still can’t hide from the faked photo he has produced.
I expect he will get the kicking he deserves next Thursday!
PS A friend of mine has said he has the videos and will try to restore them over the weekend!
27th April 2007 at 2:53 pm
While we wait for a mirror of Mr Ali’s videos to emerge, I have this special treat to share:
Busharat Ali rocks!
I hope you enjoy it.
27th April 2007 at 2:58 pm
Tim - that is absolutely superb! You are plainly a man with too much time on your hands!!!
27th April 2007 at 3:09 pm
The local Conservative candidate for Lawrence Hill - Jai Singh - is a top bloke, and is certified photoshop-free
27th April 2007 at 3:29 pm
Yes, but he will be able to count his votes on the fingers of two hands.
Tim, that link is priceless!
27th April 2007 at 3:58 pm
The Bush is back - all videos back up on youtube
enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5601HhRQ68c
or
http://www.youtube.com/busharatsfanclub
27th April 2007 at 4:40 pm
Tim, very childish . . . and utterly brilliant!
27th April 2007 at 6:39 pm
BUSHARAT WILL WEN
27th April 2007 at 6:41 pm
I KNOW HIM HE WAS IN MARCH I WAS WITH HIM LIB DEM JUST TRY TO STOP HIS COMPANE
27th April 2007 at 10:16 pm
Don’t you just hate it when the computer not only puts all your letters into capitals, but then mis-spells a bunch of words as well?
27th April 2007 at 10:32 pm
Sajidi,
Got any photos mate??
27th April 2007 at 11:23 pm
It’s impossible to tell whether Mr Khan is a spoof, or a friend of Mr Ali. Says it all really!
27th April 2007 at 11:54 pm
The photo is a fake. This shows the utter contempt that Labour has for the voters. Make your feelings known at the ballot box.
28th April 2007 at 12:04 pm
Well it keeps that great Labour slogan alive.Labour runs on buggery, thuggery, bullshit and lies.
28th April 2007 at 12:41 pm
al-Taqiyya
28th April 2007 at 5:44 pm
What on earth is happenning to the political system in this country?. Its true that we have descended to the levels of a banana republic, what with the flagrant vote rigging going on too. Its disgusting to think that men have fought and died for this country to preserve our our way of life, and continue to do so in the name of democracy- thank you Labour and the rest of the pro multicult parties.
28th April 2007 at 6:39 pm
Well I never — our vibrant ethnics have been enriching the LibDem community too:
Councillor questioned over fraud
Khurshid Ahmed, 48, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Oldham Council, was interviewed by police on Tuesday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/manchester/6590665.stm
28th April 2007 at 10:11 pm
“if you go back and read what I wrote again, you’ll see that I said the photo was of a group of pro-Hezbollah supporters. I think that’s a fair description of the group of people on the march who are in that photo.”
You think? Do you have any actual evidence for that, or are you just going to go on intuition? Do you know these people’s names? Did you take a poll of this particular portion of the crowd on the day?
Again, I challenge you either to back up your assertions with more than “I think”, which so far you have been unable to do, or publish a retraction and correction.
28th April 2007 at 10:21 pm
The banner saying “We are Hezbollah” is a bit of a clue
28th April 2007 at 10:55 pm
ebahg,
Oh the humanity of it all.
The poor victims of years of being victims of nasty british
oppression.
Hey, where is Jeremy Thorpe when
he is needed??
Old Liberals are the New WIGGERS.
I believe in people turning up at a Polling Station, asked whether they can produce ID
and proper documentation.A
squad of Inspectors searching for “Missing Fathers,Tax Dodgers,OutstandingWarrants,Non Poll Tax Payers,and LORD LUCAN”.
stanno
29th April 2007 at 10:38 pm
reply to Laurence Boyce (posting no 36) I NEVER portrayed my Labour predecessor as a war monger nor did any of the leaflets during my candidacy for Bristol West. What we did point out was that she ABSTAINED in the final vote on 17 March 2003 that gave Blair approval for war. I have no doubt that Valerie Davey was not in favour of the war (and I said so at public meetings) but the fact is that she did not vote against it. She was defeated by a 5000+ margin.
29th April 2007 at 11:41 pm
Hi Stephen. I was careful not to mention names or places, and I was not referring to you. I was trying to make a general point about Lib Dem tactics, but I can now see that in the context of this thread, it looked rather too much like I might have been referring to Bristol, especially seeing as you also defeated a female Labour MP in 2005, something I was not aware of. Please accept my apologies.
30th April 2007 at 8:33 am
Sadly, the most revealing video of the illustrious candidate has vanished, leaving only a trace. This was an 8-minute long Bollywood style promo featuring the candidate cool in shades, with the striking word “DON” written across the first few frames and posing by a variety of expensive vehicles, including 4-wheel drive (a local speciality for East Bristol’s thrusting new class of young businessman rulers). I forced myself to watch it all the way through abut a month ago, just to see if he came out with any policies. The real message of the wordless video remained unspoken, but was clear for those with eyes to see.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22rana+busharat+ali+khan%22&hl=en&start=10&sa=N
Subscript as follows: “Most Successful Business Families of Pakistan Mr Rana Busharat Ali Khan BRISTOL DON DON PAKISTAN FALIM hot sexey girls want hot babas shadi.com ary geo tv…”
What is happening to East Bristol?
30th April 2007 at 5:14 pm
Laurence: If you’re referring to the constituency I think you are, she not only voted against the war but resigned her position as a PPS to do so.
30th April 2007 at 6:38 pm
Well we can probably work it out from there so you might as well tell us!
The only likely ones remaining look like Cambridge or Falmouth & Camborne (though I can’t remember who the Labour MPs were for some seats!)
As Laurence identifies himself as a software developer I suspect the former
30th April 2007 at 8:06 pm
Yes, it was Cambridge. But I didn’t hang on to all the election leaflets (strange to tell) so I can’t really back up my story. But the same sort of thing is still going on now. I received a Lib Dem leaflet only the other day with a picture of Blair and Bush on it – I daresay a number of you may have seen this too. Try as I might, I just can’t see the relevance of George Bush to local politics. Unless it be that, given the general dissatisfaction surrounding rubbish collection, he’s going to come over and kick some ass. I don’t know.
30th April 2007 at 8:26 pm
It’s a fact of life that many people will vote in local elections on national issues. Given that, taking some moral high ground about not using any national (or international) issues is like campaigning with one hand tied behind your back - and leaflets are much harder to deliver like that…
30th April 2007 at 9:17 pm
Laurence @ 64 - That’s easy. If we hadn’t wasted £5 billion so far on the war in Iraq (led by Bush), the government would have been able to put more money into the local government settlement, thereby either reducing Council Tax or improving services. It’s all connected, you see…
1st May 2007 at 12:46 am
In case you’re wondering why this scandal hasnt appeared in the local newspaper, the Evening Post, it is because it is apparently “too sensitive” to use at election time! LOL! The Lib Dems are up in arms about this, as you can imagine.
This of course is totally unrelated to the fact that the political editor of the Evening Post, Ian Onions, is pally with the coordinator of the Lawrence Hill campaign, Labour PPC Paul Smith…
1st May 2007 at 12:48 am
Just a few quick points about the Lawrence Hill 2007 election:
1) The Tory candidate is an ex Lib Dem member, who appeared to move with his family to supporting Labour in 2005 and were alledgedly camapaigning for them on the doorstep on Polling day, and has recently become a Tory - Make your own minds up !
2) Mr Ali has been seen ripping down Lib Dem posters from local shops, without asking the shopkeepers permission - In some cases the shopkeepers chased him down the road, but could not catch him - Some shopkeepers are, according to them, considering contacting the police about intimidation, after there were confrontations with some employees in local shops which resulted in perceived aggression.
Looking forward to Friday and the results!
1st May 2007 at 2:11 pm
It really is time the Liberal Democrats started to concentrate on policies and substance rather than attacking the candidates who they fear in the elections on Thursday.
Who cares if the photo has been taken out of context, until it can be vaified that it is a fake, by the appropriate organisations, it is irresponsible to publish it saying it is fake.
I hope the Liberal Democrats do as badly in the elections on Thursday as they are predicted to do, as then a new leader can be chosen, one who will inspire the party to become modern, green, and democratic.
1st May 2007 at 3:32 pm
Did you not look at the two photos? It is quite clearly a fake!
1st May 2007 at 5:30 pm
hi, I had been reading the comments, I beleive Mr Ali to be completely innocent and photo idea, if it is fake, then has been produced by some of his friend, who might be a tout for competing candidate and how ome the real one came out so soon?????????? think twice
1st May 2007 at 7:20 pm
Samina: the faked photo appeared in Mr Ali’s own election leaflet. So how could someone working for another candidate have got the photo in Mr Ali’s leaflet?
The reason the real photo came out so soon is that it is a very obvious fake.
2nd May 2007 at 4:16 pm
Re: (69) Allegation that “Mr Ali has been seen ripping down Lib Dem posters from local shops…”
Interestingly, on the street where Busharat Ali lives (in a neighbouring ward) at least one shopkeeper is displaying a Lib Dem poster “Malik for Mayor” side by side with Labour poster “Farook Chaudhury”.
Is he hedging his bets, or is there something more going on?
To this bystander the latest photo shenanigans just look like the tip of a very large iceberg in the community.
2nd May 2007 at 4:22 pm
The sad thing is that it may well be true that Mr Ali opposed the war and that he went on the march - but by using a crudely-faked photo to “illustrate” this, he has made himself and, by association his local party, untrustworthy and ridiculous.
2nd May 2007 at 5:22 pm
“Interestingly, on the street where Busharat Ali lives (in a neighbouring ward) at least one shopkeeper is displaying a Lib Dem poster “Malik for Mayor” side by side with Labour poster “Farook Chaudhury”.
Is he hedging his bets, or is there something more going on?”
It is common in my experience for asian run shops - particularly in areas of high asian populations to display posters for candidates from all parties - sort of a bit like a community noticeboard.
3rd May 2007 at 9:15 am
In an interview with the “Somali Voice”, Busharat Ali represents himself as a “staunch Muslim” and expresses his strong preoccupation with Pakistani politics and the Umma in general. He says “…we direly need to redefine the term terrorist as I don’t consider teenagers a terrorists throwing stones on Israeli tanks-I consider them freedom fighters.”
Busharat Ali says that he considers “the Easton/Lawrence hill area are predominantly ethnic minority areas…” This is not in fact true, but it shows how he wants to see East Bristol and where his priorities lie.
http://www.thesomalivoice.co.uk/counselling.htm
Labour / Lib Dems are cynically and dangerously playing on loyalties and divisions in the area, pandering to vocal groups and effectively marginalising people (minority or majority) who are not organised.
One East Bristol scene that gives a clue to what is going on may be seen where a church and a mosque face each other. The church is quiet, with groups of broken-down people drinking themselves into oblivion. The mosque is alive with a homogeneous group of men who stand confidently in the street on weekdays, networking busily.
Whether LibDem / Labour strategy will benefit the area and all the people in it, or actually create longer term resentment remains to be seen.
6th May 2007 at 11:29 pm
“The banner saying “We are Hezbollah” is a bit of a clue”
I’ll leave aside the ambiguity of that (misquoted) slogan, and simply ask: how many people in the picture are holding it? Again, if I pointed out an SWP banner in a photo of a crowd at the 2003 march and concluded that they were all revolutionary socialists that would be absurd - yet you’re doing the same thing here. Your case is unsound, to say the least. Retract and correct.
7th May 2007 at 10:18 am
Thanks for spotting that I missed out the word “all” when typing up the slogan in my previous comment, though it doesn’t make a difference to the substantive point - that there were some pro-Hezbollah supporters on the march?
And while we are on the subject of corrections - your original claim was that I had said the entire march was a pro-Hezbollah one, but - as I pointed out to you - the original posting certainly did not say that. If the original posting had said that, you’d be right to say it was wrong - but it didn’t. I’m curious as to why you’re so keen to claim I made a blanket comment about everyone on the march? (Or do you now think that comment of yours was a mistake?).
7th May 2007 at 11:07 am
There’s a bit of a gap in the comments, so here’s a rewind: Busharat Ali lost the seat to Farook Chaudhury. Local reports in Bristol are that on Saturday Steve Comer (Eastville) took over as LD Leader from Barbara Janke, and therefore is the new Council Leader.
8th May 2007 at 11:52 am
Incorrect Peter: Farook was the Labour candidate next door in Easton. Busharat failed to beat the incumbent LD Sue Odonnell. He managed to cut her majority from 82 to 81…
27th August 2007 at 11:11 pm
Is it true Monmouthshire Cllr Hobson is standing as a Conservative candidate at the next election in Bristol ?
6th September 2007 at 12:31 pm
I had heared the rumour I was standing as a Communist candidate in Manchester West!!
12th April 2008 at 4:46 pm
“Incorrect Peter: Farook was the Labour candidate next door in Easton. Busharat failed to beat the incumbent LD Sue Odonnell. He managed to cut her majority from 82 to 81…”
Excellent so he’ll take the district in….er….2329!