Next election will be about Muslims, says Galloway

THE next election will be about Muslims, George Galloway has said, as he was sworn into the Commons as the new MP for Rochdale.

The controversial politician said it was “clear” to him that Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, had identified “Muslims and Gaza” as the “wedge issue” that he intended to use as his “only hope of re-election”.

He vowed to target Angela Rayner’s seat specifically, claiming to have “at least 15,000 supporters” in the Greater Manchester constituency – capable of toppling the deputy Labour leader’s majority of about 4,000.

At an impromptu press conference after his swearing-in ceremony, he also urged Jeremy Corbyn to launch and lead an alliance of “socialist, progressive and anti-war organisations”.

Mr Galloway, the leader of the Workers Party of Britain and a former Labour MP, stormed to victory in the Rochdale by-election last week, having aggressively courted the town’s substantial Muslim vote on a pro-palestinian ticket.

The MP claimed to be “speaking for a very large number of people in Britain”, and that voters in many parliamentary constituencies supported his views.

He said this would become clear to Sir Keir Starmer as he pledged to target Ms Rayner’s seat at the next election.

Mr Galloway said he did not expect Mr Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now sits as an independent MP, to join his party. Mr Corbyn had been expected to introduce the new Rochdale MP to the chamber yesterday.

Instead, Alba MP Neale Hanvey and Sir Peter Bottomley, the Father of the House, carried out the introduction. Bim Afolami, the treasury minister, said it suggested MPS did not hold their new colleague in high regard, and he blamed Labour for Mr Galloway’s success.

Mr Galloway’s return to the Commons is likely to reignite tensions in the chamber, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews calling for him to be “shunned as a pariah by all parliamentarians”.