Galloway targets town his plans for ‘Rochdale
New MP ‘to form grand alliance to end Labour control
GEORGE Galloway’s triumph in the Rochdale by-election has sent shockwaves through the country.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant has promised a ‘revival’ of the town, which he says has ‘pioneered a redrawing of the political map’ in the UK.
But the strange circumstances of this by-election, dramatic from the get-go, makes it difficult to gauge whether the shock result will be repeated elsewhere.
As for Rochdale, his stint as the MP may be brief with a general election on the horizon.
The Workers Party of Britain leader’s first words after the results were declared were for the Labour Party leader.
He told Keir Starmer, ‘this is for Gaza’, before saying he will fight to bring maternity services and A&E back to the town, as well as saving the football club.
Mr Galloway won nearly 40 per cent of the vote, beating Labour’s disowned candidate Azhar Ali by around 10,000 votes.
It came after the party stopped campaigning for
Mr Ali, who apologised for ‘deeply offensive’ claims he made about Israel before he was selected.
Mr Ali came fourth in the 11-man race, behind the Conservatives and independent candidate Dave Tulley, who secured more votes than the two parties combined.
Labour, which held the seat from 2010 until the sudden death of Sir Tony Lloyd in January, apologised to the voters of Rochdale, claiming Mr Galloway ‘only won
because Labour did not stand’.
But Rochdale’s new MP, who returns to Parliament to represent his fourth constituency in 20 years, said his victory is going to ‘start a movement’ across the country.
He later revealed his party is planning to field 59 candidates at the general election later this year -and he hopes the win will encourage independent candidates to come forward and take on Labour elsewhere in the UK, too.
However, his eyes are now firmly set on the local elections in Rochdale.
Speaking at a post-election rally at his campaign headquarters - a Suzuki showroom near the town centre - he said that he will put together a ‘grand alliance’ to end Labour’s control of the council.
He said: “The next contest is the council elections and we hope that the momentum that we have garnered this evening, and that Mr Tulley has garnered this evening, will sweep the board, that we will knock out every sitting councillor up for reelection.
“And if we do that, we will change Rochdale forever and we truly will have a Rochdale revival.”
Labour currently holds 46 of the 60 seats on Rochdale council with a third of all councillors up for reelection in May.
Mr Galloway, who won the backing of many members of the town’s Muslim community, could well pose a threat to Labour in certain council wards.
But he will rely on other parties and independent candidates coming together in that ‘grand alliance’ to take on Labour elsewhere in the borough.
Meanwhile, despite criticising the Labourcontrolled council, he said he hopes to work with the town hall to save Rochdale AFC.
Last month, we learned that Rochdale football club, known as the Dale, faces the ‘very real threat’ that it could fold by the end of this month.
The club, which was founded 117 years ago, faces a ‘desperate’ countdown to find a new investor to save the historic local institution.
Mr Galloway pledged to ‘work tirelessly’ to save the Dale in his victory speech. He also repeated promises that he would ‘work for the day where you can again be born in Rochdale’, telling voters that he will fight to bring maternity services and A&E back to the town.
During the campaign, he claimed that he secured the reopening of Rochdale Market.
But he did not repeat this in his victory speech.
Mr Galloway, who has stood in elections for seven different Parliamentary seats over the last 20 years, was last elected as an MP for Bradford West in 2012.
A local journalist working in the area during that time told the Observer that Mr Galloway’s ‘celebrity’ status meant that local issues he raised received more attention in media and in Parliament than they would have usually.
But speaking to the Observer during his campaign, Mr Galloway said that, if he wins, he will raise the war in Gaza at the first opportunity in Parliament, before raising local issues.
He spoke of what he ‘left behind’ in Bradford, citing ‘concrete evidence’ of his legacy - but he did not want to ‘go into’ why he lost the seat by a 11,420 vote margin, because he did not ‘want to sound like a conspiracy theorist’.
The war in Gaza was front and centre of Mr Galloway’s campaign in the Rochdale by-election, suggesting that those who voted for him support his strong stance against Israel.
But even his supporters told the Observer that this by-election was not just about Gaza.
Jewish community groups have raised concerns about Mr Galloway’s return to Parliament during the Middle East conflict, citing his record of ‘inflammatory rhetoric’.
There is no doubt this issue will dominate what could be a short period for him in Parliament.
Earlier this year, Rishi Sunak suggested that the next general election will be held in the second half of the year. But the Prime Minister could call an election at any point before then, leaving open the possibility that the general vote could take place within months.
Mr Galloway told the Observer last month that, if he wins, he intends to defend his seat at the next general election.
He conceded that it is harder for a small party to win a general election than it is to win a by-elec