George Galloway Secures Victory in Divisive Rochdale By-election Amid Gaza Debate

Workers Party of Britain candidate George Galloway celebrates with supporters at his campaign headquarters after being declared the winner in the Rochdale by-election in Rochdale, England, on Feb. 29, 2024. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Labour lost in Thursday’s Rochdale by-election to George Galloway of the Workers Party of Britain, who won with nearly 40 percent of the vote amid a contest dominated by debate over the Gaza conflict and internal Labour Party controversies.

Mr. Galloway, a former Labour and Respect MP, criticised the Labour leadership in his victory speech, emphasising his support for Palestine, in a constituency that has an over 30 percent Muslim demographic.

The election was expected to favour Labour following the death of MP Tony Lloyd, but was upended by the leak of controversial remarks made by Labour’s candidate, Azhar Ali, about Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict.

Despite this, Mr. Ali remained the Labour candidate on the ballot owing to the timing of Labour’s eventual decision to withdraw official support from him. Had he won, he would have sat as an independent MP in Parliament.

Mr. Galloway secured a majority of 5,697 votes, representing 18.3 percent of the total, with a turnout of just 39.7 percent. Independent candidate and local businessman David Tully took an unexpected second place, with over 6,600 votes.

‘This Is for Gaza’

Mr Galloway reacted to his victory by saying: “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You have paid, and you will pay, a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging, and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip,” adding that he was putting Labour “on notice.”

On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer told media: “Galloway only won because Labour didn’t stand a candidate. I regret that we had to withdraw the candidate and apologise to voters in Rochdale.

“But I took that decision. It was the right decision. And when I say I changed the Labour Party, I mean it. Obviously we will put a first-class candidate, a unifier, before the voters in Rochdale at the general election.”

Reform UK, polling third in national voter intention, could only muster up a sixth place finish, taking 6 percent of the vote. Leader Richard Tice claimed that their candidate, the former Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, had seen his campaign marred by “intimidation.”

Mr. Tice told The Epoch Times that “sectarian politics is sadly here,” and that this new divisiveness wouldn’t change “under current regime or Labour,” owing to “too much weak woke wet thinking.”

Campaign Tactics ‘Deeply Disturbing’

Speaking to GB News after the polls finished, Mr. Tice added: “Now the polls have closed, people across the UK need to know the truth about this election campaign and the implications for our democracy.

“To suggest that a parliamentary election in this country has not been truly free and fair is a very serious allegation indeed.

“Unfortunately, however, the behaviour of certain candidates and their supporters in this contest fell very far short of this, our traditional democratic standards. What we have witnessed and experienced in Rochdale is deeply disturbing.”

The new Workers Party member of Parliament for Rochdale, George Galloway, poses for a photograph with his wife Putri Gayatri Pertiwim outside his campaign headquarters in Rochdale, northern England on March 1, 2024. Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

Mr. Tice also alleged that members of the Reform team had “been subjected to death threats; suffered vile racist abuse; been refused entry to hustings in a public building; had to be relocated for their own safety; suffered daily intimidation and slurs.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on Friday: “It was very concerning to see the reports of intimidation through the by-election, and by all accounts one of the most divisive campaigns that we’ve seen in recent times.

“I’m pleased the Conservative Party was the only party to run a really positive campaign focused on local issues with a great local candidate, Paul Ellison.”

Mr. Ellison finished with 12 percent of the vote.

Galloway Claims Reform Courted Him

Responding to comments from the Reform team, Mr. Galloway told the media: “I think Mr. Tice has rather lost his balance, and Mr. [Nigel] Farage too, and I remind Mr. Tice that I have on my telephone a text from him inviting me to be the Reform UK candidate in a by-election not that long ago. I’d prefer not to publish it, but if he keeps telling lies about me I will have to tell the truth about him.”

Mr. Tice retorted in a statement saying: “I genuinely have no idea what Mr. Galloway is referring to. It is clearly an attempt to distract attention away from the appalling way that this by-election in Rochdale has been conducted.”

Mr. Danczuk told Times Radio, “We spent a lot of time dealing with intimidation and significant problems that clearly came from Galloway’s supporters.”

The election will certainly serve as a wake-up call to Labour, with suggestions that Mr. Galloway could be inspired to field strong candidates around the country in the general election, or even threaten a mayoral campaign against Sadiq Khan in London.

Labour’s deputy national campaign coordinator, Ellie Reeves, told Sky News: “George Galloway is someone who stokes up division and fear. This isn’t how we would have wanted this by-election to play out.”

‘Multiculturalism Isn’t Working’

Reacting to Mr. Galloway’s platforming of the Gaza conflict as a vote-winning strategy, Reform UK’s deputy leader Ben Habib told The Epoch Times: “We are seeing reflected in politics what we experience in our social construct. Multiculturalism isn’t working.

“We’re seeing divisive politics on the back of multiculturalism embedded into place by diversity, equality, and inclusion spreading like a virus, as it has done through the regulatory framework.”

Mr. Habib added, “We’re going to see much, much more of this.”