THE West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury seems an unlikely place for a revolution in British politics. But voters in the former mill town will soon have a choice of Muslim candidates for both Labour and the Conservatives for the first time at a general election.

Dewsbury’s would-be Muslim MPs are both British-born with family roots in Pakistan and both hold prominent positions in their national parties.

Both are trying to woo a Muslim vote that makes up nearly a quarter of the population, as well as a wider community dismayed over unemployment, the failing local hospital and immigration that has changed the character of the town.

Shahid Malik, 37, is a seasoned political activist on Labour’s national executive. Born in Burnley and an adviser to the Government’s Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, he has crossed the Pennines after trying for several other seats.

Sayeeda Warsi, a 33-year-old lawyer, is the Tories’ first female Muslim candidate and a race adviser to Michael Howard. She founded a charity for Asian widows and orphans, is proud of her arranged marriage and hopes to represent the town where she was born.

The contest will be watched to see if Mrs Warsi can overturn the 7,449 majority of Ann Taylor, Labour’s retiring MP, with the Liberal Democrats taking anti-Iraq war votes and the British National Party (BNP) standing after winning a council seat last June. But the clash will also be watched for signs of the worst aspects of “Punjab politics”, with the rivalry heating up and the BNP ready to capitalise on disillusionment among white voters.

It was Mr Malik who began to ruffle feathers last year by speaking out against what he calls “clan-based” politics. He said: “I took on some of the worst aspects of the Asian sub-continent and some of the politics there and it caused a great deal of offence to one or two people. It was a challenge to move away from the where-were-your-ancestors-from type of politics to a meritocracy.

“The former has the ability to get people elected who cannot articulate on your behalf and reinforce the worst racist stereotypes. There were still far too many councillors in this country who did not have a decent command of English and that disadvantaged them and the electorate, especially the white electorate.” But he is now at the centre of a row over just the kind of politics he attacked, splashed across a local paper which is openly hostile to his candidacy. Mr Malik speaks darkly of a row being stoked between the two candidates to drive voters to the BNP, something which the local newspaper strongly rejects.

The unpalatable phrase for what has happened in areas of Dewsbury is “white flight”, creating almost entirely Asian communities. Mr Malik says the far-right has got a toe-hold in Dewsbury only because of a failure of leadership.

He says: “It is because people do not connect with each other. It really is parallel lives and I hope to bring the kind of leadership that brings some of that down.”

He believes in “sensible immigration” and thinks that Conservative plans for quotas will fan racism rather than solve it, as Mr Howard claims.

Mrs Warsi backs the tough Tory line on immigration. She even has a better answer than Mr Howard to the question of whether Tory policies would have prevented their own families from settling in Britain.

“My parents came to this country at a time that Britain needed them to come and build up this country after the Second World War. We have to do what is right for Britain today and letting people hang around for four years in an incompetent immigration and asylum system and telling them they have to go back after their children have settled is diabolical.”

She is concerned that Muslims have “almost become today’s bogeyman” and attacks Hazel Blears, the Home Office Minister, for warning Asian-looking people that they will be stopped by police.

Watching the battle heat up between Mr Malik and Mrs Warsi are the Lib Dems, in third place in 2001. The BNP candidate, David Exley, is also confident of adding to the 2,076 votes which saw him elected to Kirklees council.

Kingsley Hill, 66, the Lib Dem candidate, does not believe that he is disadvantaged by not being Muslim. A former local headteacher, he said: “I can win the election because I am saying what they want to hear not because I am of a particular belief. Free tuition, no war in Iraq and no more wars.”

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