In his victory speech, Mr Galloway began by focusing on Palestine, saying: “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza'
George Galloway wins Rochdale by-election comfortably as Tories and former Labour candidate are pushed into third and fourth after divisive campaignMr Galloway’s campaign team claimed early on in the night that the former Labour and Respect MP would win “comfortably”, and so it proved. The Workers Party of Great Britain leader received just under 40% of the vote.
His majority of 5,697 votes amounted to 18.3% of the total, on a turnout of 39.7%, a little higher than the two recent by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood. “He has previously and infamously declared Bradford an ‘Israel-free zone’. He said of his previous election loss that ‘the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating’. He described David Baddiel, a Jewish comic who is well-known for not closely associating himself with Israel, as a ‘vile Israel-fanatic’.
After being declared the winning candidate in Rochdale, George Galloway began his speech from the podium. James Giles, Mr Galloway’s campaign manager, told the PA news agency: “It is going better than our wildest hopes. George will win here by a fair margin.” Chris Williamson, a former Labour MP and deputy leader of Mr Galloway’s party, said the result would “send shockwaves through the Palace of Westminster”.
Former Labour MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant Mr Galloway emerged as the frontrunner after Labour withdrew its support from candidate Azhar Ali, who was filmed suggesting Israel was complicit in the massacre of its own people in the October 7 terror outrage launched by Hamas. Mr Danczuk himself previously represented the seat as a Labour MP but was barred from standing for the party in 2017 after apologising for “inappropriate” text messages sent to a 17-year-old girl. He stood as an independent that year and received only 883 votes.
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