George Galloway strikes blow 'for Gaza' in Rochdale by-election

Veteran left-wing politician George Galloway is set to return to the UK parliament after winning Thursday's Rochdale by-election in a vote dominated by the refusal of the UK's main parties to back a ceasefire in Gaza.

Galloway, representing the Workers Party of Britain, won almost 40 percent of the votes and nearly 6,000 more votes than his nearest rival.

Speaking after the results were announced, Galloway took aim at both opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, who is facing growing dissent in his own party over his failure to support an immediate ceasefire, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

"Keir Starmer - this is for Gaza," said Galloway, who was a Labour MP from 1987 until he was expelled from the party in 2003 over his opposition to the Iraq war.

"Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale."

Galloway said Labour, which is the frontrunner in polls ahead of a general election expected later this year, would pay a high price for "enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe" in Gaza.

Galloway acknowledged the role played by Muslim voters, traditionally seen as Labour supporters, in delivering his victory in a town where Muslims make up 30 percent of the population.

But he warned that "millions" were also ready to reject Labour at the forthcoming election.

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"It's true that every Muslim is bitterly angry at Keir Starmer and his misnamed Labour party - but you would be very foolish if you didn't realise that millions of other citizens of our country are too," he said.

Thursday's by-election followed the death of Rochdale's Labour MP Tony Lloyd, who had held a majority of more than 10,000.

Labour did not officially field a candidate in the contest after it withdrew support for its nominated candidate, Azhar Ali, after he was alleged to have made antisemitic remarks.

Ali's name still appeared on the ballot but he finished fourth with just 2,402 votes. Conservative candidate Paul Ellison was third with 3,731 votes, while a local independent candidate, David Tully, was second with 6,638 votes.

During an interview in Rochdale last week, Galloway told Middle East Eye: “There are millions of people in Britain that are revolted by our country's role. First of all, in the whole Palestinian tragedy in the first place. But in our government and our opposition's support for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's genocide.”

Galloway and the Middle East

Galloway’s victory in Rochdale marks the latest contentious episode in a decades-long political career shaped by events in the Middle East and his controversial photocalls with some of the region’s most notorious leaders.

His activism on Palestine began as far back as the 1980s, when he was involved in flying the Palestinian flag from the offices of Dundee council and twinning the Scottish city with Nablus in occupied Palestine. 

He was first elected to parliament as a Labour MP in Glasgow Hillhead in 1987. 

During the early 1990s, he strongly opposed British involvement in the Gulf War, which was triggered after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. 

In 1994, he was criticised for meeting Saddam and telling him: “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.” He later stated that he had been praising the Iraqi people, rather than its leader.

In the early 2000s, he was once again a fierce opponent of the US and British-led invasion and subsequent war in Iraq. 

In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party after stating that then Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush attacked Iraq “like wolves” and called on UK troops to “refuse to obey illegal orders”. 

He later returned to parliament in the 2005 general election, after pulling off a shock victory in the East London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow.

Representing the anti-war Respect party, he beat off Labour incumbent Oona King, who had previously voted in favour of the Iraq war. 

After failing to win a seat in the 2010 election, he won another by-election in 2012 in northern England’s Bradford West constituency. 

Both Bradford and Bethnal Green and Bow have sizeable Muslim communities, leading to accusations Galloway deliberately targeted Muslim areas to talk about issues such as Palestine. 

Addressing that charge, Galloway told MEE last week: “I've been, at the forefront of Palestine work in Britain for more than 50 years… I don't parachute anywhere to talk about Palestine. I've been talking about it all of my adult life.”

Galloway caused a stir in 2013 after walking out of an event at Oxford University and stating: "I don't recognise Israel and I don't debate with Israelis." The Israeli student he was due to debate was Elon Levy, who is now a senior spokesperson for the Israeli government.

In 2013, Galloway came under criticism after denying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces launched a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus.

The British lawmaker had previously met Assad in Damascus in 2005 and has continued to praise him since, despite the Syrian president's brutal crackdown on the peaceful anti-government protest movement in 2011. 

Last year, he wrote on X: “I would have been proud to have stood by #Syria even if she had fallen. Watching the President #Assad towering in the #ArabLeague in #Jeddah has made me happy today.”

In recent years, Galloway has received payments for work carried out on several TV networks, including Iranian-funded Press TV, Kremlin-owned Russia Today and Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen. 

He lost his Bradford seat in 2015. He had three more failed attempts at by-elections, in the constituencies of Manchester Gorton, West Bromwich East and Batley and Spen. 

His win on Thursday night in Rochdale means that he has now represented four different constituencies in parliament - equalling a record set by Winston Churchill.