LONDON (AP) — A veteran British left-wing political disruptor has won a special election in a northern English city with a large Muslim minority after a contest that was mired in chaos and controversy and dominated by the war between Israel and Hamas. .
George Galloway's victory was described as “beyond alarming” by Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who used an address to the nation on Friday afternoon to warn that British democracy was under attack by extremists.
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Galloway, 69, cruised to victory in Thursday's contest, taking almost 40% of the vote in the parliamentary seat of Rochdale.
In his victory speech, Galloway, wearing a fedora, took aim at Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, who opinion polls show is likely to become UK prime minister in this year's general election.
“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he said. “They have paid, and will pay, a high price for the role they have played in allowing, encouraging and covering up the catastrophe currently occurring in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip.”
Galloway, a former Labor MP who was expelled from the party in 2003, also declared that “Labour is on notice” and welcomed what he called a “shift of the tectonic plates”.
George Galloway gives a speech after being declared winner in the Rochdale by-election, which was triggered by the death of Labor MP Sir Tony Lloyd, in the town of Rochdale, England, Thursday, February 29, 2024.
The Labor Party said Galloway only won because the party withdrew its support for its candidate, Azhar Ali, for suggesting that Israel was complicit in the Hamas attack on October 7, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took away about 250 more. hostage.
In the absence of Labor Party backing and with many of Rochdale's Muslim voters dismayed by the party's reluctance to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Ali finished in fourth place.
“Galloway only won because the Labor Party did not put forward a candidate,” Starmer said. “Clearly, in the general election we will present to the voters of Rochdale a first class candidate, a unifier.”
Galloway's victory means that from next week Parliament will once again host one of the most eloquent speakers on the left wing of British politics, who will clearly use his position to express his opposition to Israel's operation in Gaza, which According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, more than 30,000 people have died.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the UK's largest Jewish community organisation, said Galloway's victory marks “a dark day” for the UK's Jewish community.
“George Galloway is a demagogue and conspiracy theorist who has brought the politics of division and hatred everywhere he ever stood for Parliament,” he said in a statement.
The Rochdale constituency has traditionally been a Labor seat. Galloway said his British Workers' Party will compete for similar seats in constituencies where there is a sizeable Muslim minority in the next general election, which is due to take place within the next 11 months.
The ruling Conservative Party, which has historically done poorly in Rochdale, came third and expressed concern that Galloway's victory would stoke tensions in the town and beyond.
In an unexpected statement on Friday night, Sunak called for unity and said Galloway was a “candidate who dismisses the horror of what happened on October 7, which glorifies Hezbollah.”
Linking his victory to other divisive developments on the UK political scene since Hamas launched its attack and Israel's subsequent response, Sunak said “our democracy itself is a target” for extremists, pointing out how some lawmakers in Parliament do not feel safe in their homes and that local political meetings have been attacked.
“In recent weeks and months, we have seen a striking increase in crime and extremist unrest,” he said. “What began as protests in our streets has turned into intimidation, threats and planned acts of violence. Jewish children are afraid to wear their school uniform for fear that it will reveal their identity. Muslim women abused in the street by the actions of a group terrorist that they have no connection with.”
He urged those who joined the near-weekly mass protests against Israel's offensive in central London and other towns and cities across the UK to do so respectfully, and said his government would support the police.
Galloway scorned a prime minister who warned against democracy after winning an election. She dismissed Sunak's central allegation, telling Sky News that she “has no respect for the Prime Minister at all” and that “millions and millions of people in this country despise the Prime Minister”.
It is not the first time Galloway has created a stir since he began his political career half a century ago as a firebrand, left-wing Labor MP for a constituency in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1994, he faced widespread opposition for meeting then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and telling him, “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.”
In 2004, he returned to Parliament as a lawmaker for the pacifist Respect Party after a special election in a predominantly Muslim seat in east London, but was defeated in the following year's general election.
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He was elected again in a special election in 2012 on a 37% swing for the Respect Labor Party, but lost his seat once again in the 2015 election.
In addition to being an eloquent defender of his political views, which led him to criticize US senators in 2005, Galloway has also been ridiculed, most notably in 2006, when he posed as a cat on the reality television show “Celebrity Big Brother.”
