Daily Record

A VICTORY FOR FEAR AND HATE

Galloway threatens Labour on MP return

- BY SOPHIE HUSKISSON AND JOHN STEVENS

TYRANT Meeting Saddam Hussein in 2002. Far left, his cringey cat act on Big Brother

GEORGE Galloway has vowed to disrupt Labour’s bid for power on his shock return as an MP.

The left-wing firebrand declared, “This is for Gaza” as he won the Rochdale by-election early yesterday. He threatened to stand candidates against Labour in 50 seats at the general election.

Galloway, 69, said: “This is going to spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates in scores of constituen­cies.”

He was handed victory after Keir Starmer withdrew Labour’s support for candidate Azhar Ali following his suggestion Israel allowed its citizens to be killed so it could invade Gaza.

A Labour spokeswoma­n said: “George Galloway is only interested in stoking fear and division. He will be a damaging force in our communitie­s and public life.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews called it “a dark day” for the UK’s Jewish community.

It added: “George Galloway is a demagogue and conspiracy theorist who has brought the politics of division and hate to every place he has ever stood for

Parliament.”

The Campaign Against Antisemiti­sm said: “He has an atrocious record of baiting the Jewish community.”

Dundonian Galloway, who famously pretended to be a cat on Celebrity Big Brother, was expelled by Labour in 2003 in a row over the Iraq War. He now leads his Workers Party of Britain and won 12,335 votes in the by-election, almost twice that of any rivals. It was triggered by the death of Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd.

It is the fifth constituen­cy that Galloway has represente­d, starting with Glasgow Hillhead.

 ?? ?? PARTY Galloway and supporters after by-election
PARTY Galloway and supporters after by-election

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom