George Galloway is back. The former Labour MP has triumphed in the Rochdale by-election, taking the seat from Starmer’s party with a majority of 5,697. Galloway – standing for the Workers Party of Britain – won comfortably with nearly 40 per cent of the vote at 12,335 votes. The independent candidate David Tully came in second place on 6,638, the Tories in third on 3,731 and Labour in a dismal fourth place on 2,041 votes in their former seat after Keir Starmer suspended the party’s candidate part way through the campaign. The Reform party – which put up another former Labour MP in Simon Danczuk as its candidate – came sixth with 6 per cent of the vote (1,968 votes) meaning they just managed to keep their deposit.
On hearing the news in the early morning of Friday, Galloway used his victory speech at the count to deliver a message to the Labour leader: ‘Keir Starmer – this is for Gaza’.
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