OLDHAM — Arooj Shah resigned as leader of Oldham Council in May 2024 after local elections left no party in overall control, plunging the council into political stalemate. More than three weeks later, parties had yet to agree on leadership or terms for cooperation, with a crunch meeting scheduled for June 15 to resolve the impasse.
Following the May 2024 elections, Labour held 18 council seats, Reform UK held 16, and the Oldham Group of pro-Gaza independents held 10. Shah accused both Reform UK of “weaponising” migration and the Oldham Group of “weaponising” Gaza, saying such tactics deepen division. “You’ve got the far right telling white working class communities: ‘You’ve been left behind because of immigrants’, and you’ve got the Oldham Group saying: ‘Nobody cares about you, nobody’s done anything about Gaza.’ I’m pro-Palestine, pro-Israel and pro-humanity – (but) Netanyahu is not waiting for Arooj from Oldham to give him a call.”
Shah, who led a council serving approximately 250,000 residents, cited escalating threats and hostility as factors in her resignation. She received racist and misogynistic abuse while in office, including voice messages stating: “You deserve to be raped and you deserve to die you bitch.” Her car was torched in 2021, and in 2023, a man was reported to police for threatening to kill her. She now requires Home Office security for public appearances and cannot visit the new Oldham market she championed without protection. “I can’t go shopping. I can’t go to [the new Oldham] market that I’m so proud of unless I’ve got security,” she said.
“Absolutely the politics in Oldham are toxic – because there’s a Muslim leader of the council and some people don’t accept that.” She added that she faced false associations with past criminal cases: “They think because I’m brown I’m related to [grooming gangs] but I’m one of the strongest voices in saying we need to deal with perpetrators. The most important people in that were the girls that were affected.”
Shah warned that extremism is eroding community cohesion. “Division is not what places like Oldham need. The far right and the far left are not healthy for any place. They instil raw rage in people – it’s absolutely dangerous.” Reflecting on her parents’ generation, she added, “The thing that makes me so sad about the identity and grievance politics is that when my parents came over in the late 1950s, they did everything they could to integrate – everybody was one.”
Oldham Group leader Kamran Ghafoor denied “weaponising Gaza,” calling it “politics driven by conviction and representation.” He expressed support for Shah’s leadership, saying, “No one should face racism, misogyny or hatred in public life … We wanted her leadership to succeed for the sake of Oldham.” He added, “Unfortunately, many residents now feel the borough has become increasingly divided.” Reform UK’s Lewis Quigg criticized Labour, stating, “Instead of talking nonsense, we are getting on with picking up large amounts of casework from Labour councillors who have done nowt and said nowt for years. Labour failed to deliver for Oldham.”