GEORGE GALLOWAY HAS won a seat in Westminster for Rochdale after securing a large 6,000 vote majority over his nearest rival in one of Britain’s most chaotic by-election campaigns in recent years.
Galloway was standing for the Workers Party of Britain and ran a heavily pro-Palestinian campaign in hopes to secure votes from Rochdale’s strong Muslim population. He declared “this is for Gaza” in his victory speech this morning.
This morning, after it was confirmed Galloway had won the seat, he said: “Keir Starmer – this is for Gaza. And you will pay a high price, in enabling, encouraging and covering for, the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip.”
The former Labour MP, and serial by-election winner, has already been denounced by the British Labour Party this morning. Labour apologised to Rochdale for not fielding a candidate and claimed Galloway will stoke “fear and division”.
Labour’s campaign was torpedoed days after launch after a recording surfaced of its candidate, Azhar Ali, speaking at a party meeting suggesting Israel was complicit with the massacre of its own people in the 7 October attack.
A party spokesperson said: “We deeply regret that the Labour Party was unable to field a candidate in this by-election, and apologise to the people of Rochdale. George Galloway only won because Labour did not stand.”
Galloway said Rochdale, once a prosperous industrial town, had been badly let down and was now one of the poorest. The issues on the minds of voters in Rochdale were broad and highlighted its place as one of the most deprived towns in the country.
There has reportedly been a rise in activity of ‘grooming gangs’, policing failures and misgovernance at the local authority. Another massive topic, concerning much of the strong Muslim population of Rochdale, is the conflict in Gaza.
Galloway cited the ending of maternity services in the town and the troubled status of the local football club, Rochdale AFC, and vowed councillors in the Labour-run town hall “have to go”. But he soon returned to party politics.
He continued: “I want to tell Mr Starmer above all, that the plates have shifted tonight.
“Beginning here in the north west, in the West Midlands, in London, from Ilford to Bethnal Green and Bow, Labour is on notice that they have lost the confidence of millions of their voters who loyally and traditionally voted for them, generation after generation.
“Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight!”
To cheers, he ended his speech with: “God bless you. God bless Rochdale. God bless Gaza.”
The anti-war campaigner and former Big Brother contestant Galloway was the favourite to take the seat, following the death of Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd last month.
During the election campaigns, there had been incidents that suggest not everyone in Rochdale is welcoming of Galloway and his political views.
A number of his campaign posters had been torn down over the last number of weeks of campaigning, due to many of them sharing the red, white and green colours of the Palestinian flag. Galloway was subjected to accusations of antisemitism.
Many of these allegations against the former Labour MP are to due to his posters and strong, sometimes radical, stances on the Palestinian cause.
Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator, told Sky News: “George Galloway is someone who stokes up division and fear. This isn’t how we would have wanted this by-election to play out.”
Asked if Labour would have lost to Galloway even without the controversies, Reeves said she could not “talk about hypotheticals,” and added that the party is focused on selecting a candidate for the general election.
The MP also suggested Labour would not change its position on the Middle East war, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Includes reporting by Press Association
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