George Galloway loses Rochdale seat to Labour months after by-election win

George Galloway has lost the Rochdale constituency just months after he won it.

The leader of the Workers Party of Britain received 11,508 votes, behind Labour’s Paul Waugh who won the seat with 13,047 votes.

On the BBC election programme Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, could scarcely contain his glee.

He described Mr Galloway as “repulsive” – but said when he was leading the party, he could not find a reason to throw him out.

The Workers Party leader did not turn up to the count in Rochdale, a seat he has only held for four months.

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Mr Galloway thanked those in the constituency who “gave me 54 sitting days in the last parliament as their MP”.

He took to X following the defeat, writing: “I thank the people of Rochdale who gave me 54 sitting days in the last parliament as their MP.

“Big thanks to my agent, my campaign team and the thousands who voted for me today.

“We took the government party to within 1,500 votes and serve notice on Labour that we are here to stay in Rochdale.

“We will field a full slate of council candidates, establish a full-time office there, campaign to re-open the maternity ward and A&E, and keep up the pressure on Labour in the town.”

Mr Galloway won the seat in a February by-election, overturning a Labour majority of 9,668.

The former Labour and Respect party MP, has held four different seats in parliament since 1987.

The political firebrand was first Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead from 1987, and after that constituency was abolished before the 1997 election, he became Labour MP for its successor, Glasgow Kelvin.

He was expelled from the Labour party in 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute, after he called the then Labour Government “Tony Blair’s lie machine”, and said British troops fighting in Iraq should refuse to obey their orders.

In 2006 he appeared in the fourth series of Celebrity Big Brother, becoming notorious for a bizarre impersonation of actress Rula Lenska’s pet cat. He lasted three weeks before he was evicted.

In the February by-election Mr Galloway took almost 40 per cent of the vote and a majority of almost 5,700.

During the general election campaign, Mr Galloway came under fire for saying he trusts Vladimir Putin more than Keir Starmer. He faced criticism earlier this year for “blatant homophobia” after saying he doesn’t think that gay relationships are equal to heterosexual relationships.

He has also repeatedly been accused of spreading conspiracy theories, including recently speculating that the Princess of Wales was “dead” and that the April 2022 Russian massacre of civilians in Bucha, just north of Kyiv, was likely staged.

He has long been an ardent supporter of the Palestinian people and staunch critic of Israel, calling for the dismantling of the “Zionist state”.

But he has also been accused of antisemitism, including when he was sacked by TalkRadio in 2019 for congratulating Liverpool FC over beating Tottenham Hotspur FC in the Champions League final by tweeting “No Israel flags on the Cup!”

The Workers Party of Britain was founded by Mr Galloway in 2019 in response to Jeremy Corbyn’s defeat in the general election of that year.

Mr Galloway has also done and said things which would have spelled the end of other politicians’ careers, including being vilified in the press for meeting Saddam Hussein.

The ex-MP was criticised in 2012 for appearing to state that having sex with an unconscious woman would be “bad sexual etiquette” but not rape.

Paul Waugh, Labour – 13,027 (32.82%)

George Galloway, Workers Party of Britain – 11,587 (29.20%)

Michael Howard, Reform – 6,773 (17.07%)

Paul Ellison, Conservative – 4,273 (10.77%)

Andy Kelly, Liberal Democrat – 2,816 (7.10%)

Martyn Savin, Green – 1,212 (3.05%)

Labour majority – 1,440 (3.63%)

Electorate 71,264

Turnout 39,688 (55.69%)

Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk