A month in power
Joseph Timan looks into what controversial MP George Galloway has done for his constituents since being elected
ONE month ago, all eyes were firmly fixed on Rochdale for a by-election like no other.
Firebrand former MP George Galloway, who won a thumping majority with 40 per cent of the vote, returned to Parliament for a seventh time in his career the following week.
The Workers Party of Britain leader put Labour ‘on notice’, threatening to wipe the party off the local council and field candidates in other constituencies across the country – including in Greater Manchester.
Despite putting the war in Gaza at the forefront of his campaign, he also spoke of Rochdale ‘revival’, demanding the return of A&E and maternity services as well as a market in the town.
He also promised to help save the town’s football club from the threat of extinction, prematurely declaring on social media that the job was done one week after his victory.
The ex-labour MP, who was first elected to Parliament in 1987, also caused controversy by speculating on his Youtube talk show that the Princess of Wales was dead, leading to criticism from his fellow Parliamentarians.
Throughout his by-election campaign, he continued to broadcast his biweekly Mother of All Talk Shows from an office in the Suzuki showroom where his team was based.
He now films it from a studio in Westminster on Wednesdays and in Rochdale at the weekend.
In recent episodes, the newly-elected MP has suggested that the UK government – and former
US President Barack Obama – were involved in the recent terror attack in Moscow. His comments have since been quoted in Russian state media as an ‘expert opinion’.
It was also on this show that Mr Galloway was accused of spreading ‘vile conspiracy theories’ about Kate Middleton. Posting a clip from his
show on X, formerly Twitter, on March 14, he wrote: “What are the royals covering up? Is she dead or has she downed tools?”
The following day, Mr Galloway boasted that, with more than 300,000 views, this was the most watched clip from his programme. But just one week later, after Kate revealed her cancer diagnosis,
he took a more sympathetic tone – at least towards the Princess herself.
He said: “All these royalist phoney sycophants are outraged, they say, at the interviews we here at the Mother of All Talk Shows have done in the last couple of weeks expressing our concern about the whereabouts and the state
of health of the Princess of Wales.”
He added: “Well, we now know that she is alive.
“We now know that she is not well. And so, on behalf of all here, Republican or Royalist, at the Mother of All Talk Shows, let me express this. We have the deepest sympathy for Princess Kate, the Princess of Wales.”
Mr Galloway is living in Rochdale now, according to his spokesperson.
He does not have a constituency office yet, but is holding weekly surgeries with constituents at cafes in Rochdale with security guards stationed at the door, his spokesperson explained.
According to his office, his staff have taken on 363 cases for residents so far, ‘with some successes’.
Mr Galloway spends his weekends in the town, the spokesperson added, returning to Scotland to see his family before travelling to London for the week in Parliament.
The 69-year-old, whose last stint as an MP was for Bradford West, has previously been described as an ‘absent MP’ by his opponents pointing to his voting record and how often he spoke in Parliament. But since returning, he has appeared regularly in the Commons.
Mr Galloway has spoken in Parliament on four occasions so far.
In the build-up to the by-election, he said that he would speak about the war in Gaza at his first appearance during Prime Minister’s Questions, before raising local issues.
However, he was not called to speak at PMQS. Instead, his first contribution came the following week during a debate on the budget.
He paid tribute to his predecessor Sir Tony Lloyd with whom, he said, he marched against the ‘repeated massacres in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces’. The rest of the speech, though, focused on the budget and what it means for Rochdale.
Not much, he argued, describing it as an ‘absolute nothingburger’ to which ‘all the spices in Rochdale could not give flavour’.
He also used his speech to warn Labour and the Conservatives that he will have his ‘boots on’ to ‘give them a good kicking’, whenever he is given the opportunity.
Later that week, he contributed to a debate about extremism, citing his support for the campaign to ‘overthrow’ apartheid in South Africa to argue that ‘sometimes those reviled as extremists turn out to have been right all along’.
Mr Galloway took the opportunity to discuss the war in Gaza in another debate the following week. The next day, he criticised the amount of money being spent by the UK to fight wars in foreign lands.
The newly-elected MP has also been busy submitting written questions and proposing motions for debate in the House of Commons.
So far, he has submitted five Early Day Motions more than any other Greater Manchester MP did in March, his spokesperson claims.
Two were about Rochdale – one to celebrate the restoration of the town hall and another calling for A&E and maternity services to be restored at the infirmary ‘without delay’ – but neither of them have been backed by other MPS.
He has, however, received support from a handful of MPS for his motions about saving the British Youth Council and fully compensating WASPI women affected by state pension age changes – although his motion to celebrate the Bangladeshi independence day remains with just one solitary signature.
Surprisingly, Mr Galloway was not in Parliament to hear and respond to an urgent question about Gaza tabled by Labour.
Paul Waugh, the i newspaper columnist who applied to be Labour’s byelection candidate in
‘Organising the removal of 9 Labour councillors. Call it a relief of Rochdale operation’
MP GEORGE GALLOWAY, RESPONDING TO A COMMENT ON X
Rochdale, pointed out the MP’S absence on the day.
Commenting afterwards, Mr Waugh said: “George Galloway said he’d speak up for the people of Rochdale on Gaza, yet just weeks into the job he is already failing his basic duty to actually turn up to the Commons to represent them on this very issue.”
Responding to Mr Waugh on X, Mr Galloway said he was busy selecting candidates to stand for his party in Rochdale’s council elections.
He wrote: “In Rochdale Mr Puffball. Organising the removal of 9 Labour councillors. Call it a Relief of Rochdale Operation.”
The Workers Party of Britain held a meeting in Manchester on March 17.
At the event, the Greater Manchester branch of the party selected former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray to stand as their candidate in the next general election – in Blackburn.
Since then, the party has selected candidates to stand in Greater Manchester too – including in Manchester Central and in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
According to Mr Galloway’s office, since the Rochdale by-election, the Workers Party has received more than 700 applications for people to stand in the general election with plans to field candidates in every seat across Greater Manchester.
But first, the party is focusing on the local elections in May.
Mr Galloway has said that he would work with local businessman Dave Tully – who remarkably came second in the byelection as an independent candidate – to kick Labour councillors out of Rochdale.
Mr Tully said last month that he has declined Mr Galloway’s invitation.
A spokesperson for Mr Galloway has said that the Workers Party of Britain now has a ‘full slate’ of candidates to stand in the local elections in Rochdale
But another independent candidate – Parents Against Grooming founder Billy Howarth – has met with Mr Galloway who has promised to use his platform to campaign for his cause.
A spokesperson for Mr Galloway has said that the Workers Party of Britain now has a ‘full slate’ of candidates to stand in the local elections in Rochdale.
And Mr Galloway has said on X that the party will be fielding candidates to stand for Oldham council as well.
Mr Galloway has said he will stand for re-election in Rochdale – but this was called into question when he revealed he was considering running for mayor.
In his first speech back as an MP, Mr Galloway accused Greater Manchester’s mayor of giving Rochdale a ‘raw deal’.
Two weeks after winning the Rochdale byelection, Mr Galloway said that if he stands for Greater Manchester mayor, it would be on a platform of getting a ‘better deal’ for surrounding towns.
The following week, the Rochdale MP confirmed on his Mother of All Talk Shows Youtube channel that he intends to stand against Mr Burnham – but not until the mayoral elections in 2028.
Members of Parliament can stand in mayoral elections.
But if Mr Galloway won the race, he would have to quit his role as MP. This is because, in Greater Manchester, the mayor is also the police and crime commissioner – a role which members of the House of Commons can stand for, but requires them to resign as MP if they are elected.
The next general election is expected to take place later this year, meaning that the next Parliamentary term will come to its conclusion by 2029 – the year after the mayoral election.
Responding to suggestions that the Workers Party of Britain leader could stand against Mr Burnham, a spokesperson for the mayor accused the MP of using Rochdale for ‘his own ends’.
Mr Burnham’s spokesperson said: “He couldn’t have made it clearer if he tried.”
Mr Galloway’s spokesperson suggested that becoming mayor could be the veteran politician’s ‘swan song’.
Rochdale’s MP will turn 74 in 2028 – but it is hard to imagine the seasoned campaigner, who has contested 15 elections over the last 37 years, ever quitting.
During his by-election campaign, he conceded that winning the seat at a general election will be more difficult.
But if his first month back in Parliament is anything to go by, Rochdale’s new MP has every intention of making his voice heard at every opportunity he has.