“Galloway only won because Labor was not running,” Starmer said. “It is clear that we will put a first-class, united candidate before voters in Rochdale in the general election.”
George Galloway testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2005 regarding allegations that he received millions of barrels of Iraqi oil to support Saddam Hussein's regime.credit: AP
Galloway's victory means that, from next week, Parliament will once again be home to one of the most eloquent orators from the left wing of British politics, who will clearly use his position to raise his opposition to the Israeli operation in Gaza, which, according to the British newspaper The Guardian, will. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health has killed more than 30,000 people.
Galloway appeared regularly on the state-backed Russia Today channel in Moscow, and reported earning tens of thousands of pounds from the station in 2014 and 2015. The New York Times mentioned.
Galloway also appeared on Press TV, Iran's state-funded news channel.
Galloway's new ten-point party platform pledges to stop “imperialist wars” and financial hegemony, and includes calling for the UK's withdrawal from NATO.
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The party's statement said: “We will continue to campaign for Brexit as a clear and present danger to the security of the British population and seek new collective security arrangements centered around protecting people, not states or industries.”
He also recently praised Tucker Carlson's widely criticized interview with Vladimir Putin, saying it challenges the narrative that negatively portrays him as a “crazy or bad Vlad.” POLITICO mentioned.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the UK's largest Jewish community organisation, said Galloway's victory represented a “dark day” for the UK Jewish community.
“George Galloway is a demagogue and conspiracy theorist who brought the politics of division and hatred everywhere he ran for Parliament,” she said in a statement.
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The Rochdale constituency has traditionally been a Labor Party headquarters. Galloway said that his British Labor Party would compete for similar seats in constituencies with a large Muslim minority in the next general election, which should take place within the next eleven months.
The ruling Conservative Party, which has historically not done well in Rochdale, came in third place and expressed fears that a Galloway win would raise tensions in the city and beyond.
In an unexpected statement on Friday evening, Al-Sanak called for unity, claiming that Galloway is “a candidate who rejects the horror of what happened on October 7, and glorifies Hezbollah.”
Sunak linked his victory to other contentious developments on the UK political scene since the Hamas attack and Israel's subsequent response, and said that “our democracy itself is a target” for extremists, noting that some lawmakers in Parliament do not feel safe in their homes and that local political meetings have been broken into.
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He added: “In recent weeks and months, we have witnessed a horrific increase in acts of extremism and criminality.”
“What started as protests in our streets turned into intimidation, threats and planned acts of violence. Jewish children are afraid to wear school uniforms for fear it will reveal their identity. Muslim women are attacked in the street because of the actions of a terrorist group with which they have no connection.”
He urged those joining the near-weekly mass protests against the Israeli attack in central London and other towns and cities in the UK to do so respectfully, and said his government would support the police.
Galloway poured his scorn on the Prime Minister, warning against democracy after his election victory. He rejected the central accusation against Sunak, telling Sky News that he had “no respect for the Prime Minister at all” and that “millions and millions of people in this country despise the Prime Minister.”
This is not the first time that Galloway has caused a stir since he began his political career half a century ago as a controversial left-wing member of Parliament for the Labor Party in an electoral district in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1994, he faced widespread opposition when he met then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and told him: “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, and your tirelessness.”
In 2004, he returned to Parliament as a lawmaker for the anti-war Respect Party after a by-election in a predominantly Muslim seat in east London, but was defeated in the general election the following year.
He was elected again in a 2012 by-election, but lost his seat again in the 2015 election.
As well as being an eloquent advocate for his political views, which saw him criticize US Senators in 2005, Galloway has also been the subject of ridicule, most notably in 2006 when he impersonated a cat on a reality TV show. Celebrity Big Brother.
AP with Chris Zappone
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