4 min read
ByAngela Epstein, Angela Epstein
I've never been much good at making significant decisions. Ask my husband. It took a week for me to respond to his proposal of marriage - even though we'd been together for two years and I was, blush, potty about him. I suppose I'm just not very good at change.
Now, I'm fretting over what to do about another man in my life - and I've got less than eight weeks to decide whether I want him to stay or go.
This time, though, the fallout from my decision - without wishing to sound horribly dramatic - could have an impact on all of us.
If I cast my lot the wrong way at the rapidly approaching general election, mine could be the one deciding vote that could tip the balance of power.
The question is, do I follow my heart or my head?
Even if you do get a Jewish MP, they don’t always please core
My heart tells me to tick the box for serving Labour MP, Ivan Lewis, a local Jewish lad who has represented my constituency, Bury South, since 1997.
He knows every buttered bagel of this bubbling hub of north Manchester Jewish life. As such, he's culturally, genealogically and geographically plugged in to what makes this area tick.
Yet my head baulks at the idea of voting Labour, since I profoundly believe both its tax-and-spend socialism and all-out class warfare, could be disastrous for this country.
Meanwhile, the Coalition - principally the Tories - has defied doomsday predictions about the economy to steward real change: growth in employment in private business has hugely outpaced job losses in the public sector, with real wages rising at last.
Indeed, the prospect of Miliband moving into Number 10, especially with a little scaffolding from the left-wing SNP, is surely likely to reverse such achievements. As such, a Labour government remains as appetising as a coconut pyramid the day after Pesach.
And yet, and yet… and here lies the dilemma of the Jewish voter. In such turbulent times for both Israel and Jews in the diaspora, do we not need friends in high places? Those who not only support our position, but really understand who we are?
In this regard, Lewis is the perfect candidate. For many years, first as a councillor and then MP, he has been a respected and dependable friend of the Jewish community. His is a fine pedigree, which includes a former position as chief executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation and trustee of the Holocaust Education Trust.
He's amenable, approachable and is ever-present at key events involving the Manchester Jewish community - in fact he was born in the constituency and knows it well. And since the Bury South patch is packed to the rafters with thousands of Jewish people, what more could we want?
Not that the Conservative's candidate is any slouch either. Daniel Critchlow, a Church of England minister, has already spoken of his pride at the strong relationship that this government has forged with Israel. He maintains that, if elected as MP for Bury South, he will do his utmost to continue to support Israel. I'm sure he means it. Though one look at the bill for my sons' university tuition fees reminds me that what wannabe politicians promise and what they deliver can be two different things
Not that being a Jewish MP guarantees automatic support for our community. (Hello, Gerald Kaufman.) Even Ed Miliband is believed to have haemorrhaged Jewish support over his anti-Israeli stance over Gaza and a perceived aggressive pro-Palestine policy at the expense of Israeli interests.
And who can forget his decision to whip a vote calling on the Government unilaterally to recognise Palestine - against long-standing British and Labour policy that recognition should only be part of a negotiated two-state settlement.
Do I really want my support for local lad Lewis to gift his party leader's passport to office?.
Conversely, we must look at the track record of the Conservatives. Both David Cameron and Theresa May in particular have stepped up to the plate in pledging to protect the security of the Jewish community.
As May herself remarked in January at an event to commemorate the victims of the Paris attacks: "Without its Jews, Britain would not be Britain".
Of course, Bury South doesn't present the only dilemma. The country is peppered with constituencies that will be fielding Jewish candidates. And even if you do get a Jewish MP, they don't always please their voters. Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, and herself a target of antisemitism, was criticised by the Jewish community in Liverpool and supporters of Israel for not using her position to defend the country for the sake of career advancement.
After her first 16 months in parliament, she had not mentioned Israel in any of her parliamentary interventions. So it could be said Jewish voters demand that extra, dare I say, pound of flesh, from their parliamentarians
These are indeed parlous times for Jews - and, by default, for everyone who supports a civilised western society. Antisemitism is on the rise, in tandem with the spiralling movement of the barbarous Islamic state
Yet as a mother - and one with no intention of leaving Britain any time soon - I need to know my children have prospects here. That the economy will continue to expand and that opportunities to make a living and hopefully enable them to own their own home will present themselves
What to do? Perhaps, despite the hot water currently pouring over him, it would be helpful if former BBYO-nick and Manchester Poly alumnus Grant Shapps could relocate to north Manchester and stand for the Tories here in Bury South.
Instead, it comes down to voting Jewish or voting Tory. It's a dreadful dilemma - a bit like marrying out when it feels so wrong but you just can't give up the girl.
By the way, I eventually said yes to my (Jewish) husband and it is a decision I've never regretted. I do hope that, come election day, I don't live to regret whatever choice I make.