As he celebrated victory early Friday after successful a parliamentary election, George Galloway, a veteran left-wing firebrand, directed his assault squarely on the chief of Britain’s opposition Labour Social gathering.
“Keir Starmer, that is for Gaza,” Mr. Galloway mentioned, sporting the fedora hat that has change into his trademark. “You have got paid, and you’ll pay, a excessive worth for the function you’ve got performed in enabling, encouraging and masking for the disaster presently occurring.”
Mr. Galloway received the election — for a seat in Rochdale, north of Manchester, that had beforehand been held by Labour — after a chaotic marketing campaign that turned emblematic of the anger that has swept by British politics over the struggle in Gaza.
Voting came about on Thursday to interchange Tony Lloyd, a Labour Social gathering lawmaker who had represented the district however died of blood most cancers in January. Mr. Galloway achieved a transparent victory, with 12,335 votes.
Mr. Galloway, founding father of the far-left Employees Social gathering of Britain, as soon as represented Labour in Parliament, however he was compelled out of the get together in 2003 over his outspoken criticism of the Iraq struggle.
Victory in Rochdale was the newest act of revenge from a maverick politician who had run in a number of earlier elections towards his former get together, generally efficiently. Mr. Galloway has a protracted historical past of fierce and at instances inflammatory rhetoric, and he has a aptitude for producing publicity.
He met with Saddam Hussein in 1994, for instance, telling the Iraqi dictator, “I salute your braveness, your energy, your indefatigability.”
In 2003, he referred to Tony Blair, then Britain’s prime minister, and George W. Bush, then the U.S. president, as “wolves” for invading Iraq, and he urged British troops to disregard navy orders that he referred to as unlawful. Mr. Galloway was compelled out of the Labour Social gathering later that yr however, with the turmoil that unfolded after the invasion, he had a robust challenge on which to marketing campaign. He went on to win parliamentary seats in 2005 in Bethnal Inexperienced in jap London, and in 2012 in Bradford West, in northern England, each instances for the Respect Social gathering.
In 2009, whereas he was a member of Parliament, Mr. Galloway was criticized by a British media regulator for breaking impartiality guidelines throughout packages he introduced on Press TV, an Iranian state-owned community.
For a time, he appeared frequently on Russia At the moment, declaring tens of 1000’s of kilos in revenue from the broadcaster in 2014 and 2015. Not all of his media appearances have been political, nevertheless. In 2006, he appeared on “Superstar Large Brother,” a actuality TV present in Britain, the place at one level he stunned viewers by function taking part in as a cat and pretending to lick milk from one other contestant’s palms.
In Rochdale, Labour had inadvertently made it simpler for Mr. Galloway when it was compelled to droop its personal candidate, Azhar Ali, primarily leaving the seat undefended. Mr. Ali had been recorded claiming that Israel had “allowed” Hamas to go forward with the Oct. 7 assaults as a pretext to invade Gaza. He later issued an announcement saying that he apologized “unreservedly to the Jewish neighborhood for my feedback which have been deeply offensive, ignorant, and false.”
The debacle was a specific embarrassment for Mr. Starmer, who has made an enormous push to root out the antisemitism that stricken Labour beneath the management of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
To make issues worse, by the point Mr. Starmer acted towards Mr. Ali, it was too late to interchange him, and his identify remained on the poll for the Thursday election, attracting 2,402 votes. David Tully, an impartial, got here second with 6,638 votes.
Not for the primary time in his profession, Mr. Galloway appealed on to Muslim voters, who make up round 30 p.c of the citizens in Rochdale. Lots of them have expressed anger in regards to the rising loss of life toll and humanitarian disaster in Gaza and wish Britain to press more durable for an instantaneous cease-fire.
In his marketing campaign literature, Mr. Galloway described Mr. Starmer as a “high supporter of Israel” and steered his management might be weakened by the result of the vote. “Think about — the folks of Rochdale coming collectively to topple the hated Labour chief,” the leaflet mentioned.
That prospect could also be fanciful as current polling suggests that voters favor Mr. Starmer over different main politicians, whereas Labour seems to have a robust lead forward of a nationwide election anticipated this yr.
Referring to Mr. Galloway, Robert Ford, a professor of political science at Manchester College, mentioned, “He’s a one-off, you possibly can’t clone him.”
“He does have a exceptional campaigning skill, he’s excellent at intuiting the emotive strains that may land in any explicit context, and he’s proved that once more,” Professor Ford added.
Whereas Mr. Galloway’s success is subsequently unlikely to be repeated elsewhere, there are nonetheless some implications for Labour. “It’s going to have an effect on inside Labour get together politics within the run-up to the election; it’s going to have an effect on the conversations about the best way to battle the final election marketing campaign,” Professor Ford mentioned.
Returning to Parliament, Mr. Galloway is prone to do his greatest to be a thorn in Labour’s aspect and to attempt to exploit inside get together tensions over the Center East.
On Friday, he used a characteristically crude picture to equate Mr. Starmer’s coverage with that of Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, calling them “two cheeks of the identical bottom.”
“They each bought properly and actually spanked tonight right here in Rochdale,” Mr. Galloway mentioned.
The one brilliant spot for Mr. Starmer is that, with the final election looming, Mr. Galloway must battle for re-election quickly if he desires to remain a lawmaker for various months.
