‘This represents the Bradford Spring!’ said George Galloway after triumphing in the Bradford West by-election last night. So, let’s get this straight: comparing his victory in one of the many fair elections held in this country each year to the dangerous and fragile struggle for democracy across the Arab world? Yep, that’s right — and it leaves a nasty, bitter tang in the air. But we shouldn’t be one bit surprised. Bluster, exaggeration and provocation are, after all, what Galloway does best.
And now he will be able to do these things in Parliament for the first time since May 2010, when he was deposed from the Bethnal Green seat. The extent of his victory last night really was quite something: 18,341 votes, representing 56 per cent of the total, and a 37 per cent swing away from Labour at the general election.
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