Ex-england cricketer to stand for Workers Party
FORMER England cricketer Monty Panesar has been named among dozens of candidates set to stand for George Galloway’s party at the general election.
The Rochdale MP has said the Workers Party of Britain intends to field a ‘full slate’ of candidates across the UK.
So far, 13 parliamentary candidates have been selected to stand in Greater Manchester constituencies. The party has chosen people to contest seats held by Labour in Manchester, Oldham and Stockport, as well as Ashton-under-lyne where Angela Rayner is the MP.
Workers Party candidates have also been named for two Stockport seats which the Conservatives won at the last general election in 2019. Among the first wave of candidates announced is cricketing legend Mr Panesar who has been selected for a west London seat.
Speaking to LBC ahead of the announcement on Tuesday (April 30), Mr Galloway said: “I’m going to present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon including Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer – former England international cricketer – who’ll be our candidate in Southall. We’ve got a former Conservative UKIP member of Parliament – member of the European Parliament I should say.
“So people left, right and centre are rejecting the tweedledee, tweedledum politics. Some of them are very, very interesting indeed.
“Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could with him.”
Days after winning the Rochdale by-election in February, Mr Galloway issued a warning to Greater Manchester MPS on his first day back in Parliament. The former Labour MP said that his party would field candidates or support independents to stand in several seats.
He highlighted the Ashton-under-lyne constituency which Labour’s deputy leader Ms Rayner represents, as well as seats in Bury and Oldham. Speaking outside
Parliament today (April 30), Mr Galloway is set to announce his intention to field a ‘full slate’ of candidates.
The first wave of prospective parliamentary candidates names 170 constituencies across the country. However, the Workers Party will not field candidates in some of these constituency and instead support sitting MPS – including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In Greater Manchester, 13 Workers Party candidates have been named. The list includes a former Labour councillor in Bolton.
●●Ashton-under-lyne – Aroma Hassan
●●Bury North – Shafat Ali
●●Stalybridge and Hyde – Audel Shirin
●●Stockport – Ayesha Khan
●●Manchester Central – Chris Turner
●●Rochdale – George Galloway
●●Bolton South and Walkden –
Jack Khan
●●Wythenshawe and Sale East –
John Barstow
●●Hazel Grove – Johnny Sheen
●●Wigan – Nasri Barghouti
●●Oldham East and Saddleworth – Shanaz Siddique
●●Cheadle – Tanya Manzoor
●●Stretford and Urmston –
Dr Kalima Choudhury
According to the party, prospective parliamentary candidates for a further six North West constituencies will be announced in the coming weeks. However, no Greater Manchester constituencies have been named among the second wave of announcements.
The selections process for the remaining 14 seats in Greater Manchester has now started with those interested in standing for the party encouraged to apply. In a press conference oustide Parliament today (April 30), Mr Galloway said: “We have today announced hundreds of Parliamentary candidates ready to go for when a General Election is called, reflecting the huge diversity across Britain.
“Doctors, teachers, former soldiers, young, old, our candidates truly reflect the best of Britain, and the best of the working class.”