Westminster Is Nervously Braced For George Galloway's Return To The Commons

George Galloway's unexpectedly strong victory in the Rochdale by-election for the far-left Workers Party of Britain has triggered concerns that his divisive brand of politics could inflame tensions over Gaza, both inside and outside Westminster.

Galloway, a former MP for Labour and the Respect parties, and one-time Celebrity Big Brother contestant, overturned Labour's near 10,000 majority in the seat on Thursday with a majority of 5,697. Running a campaign which included the slogan "For Rochdale, For Gaza", the Workers Party of Britain candidate made foreign policy a cornerstone of his offering, and used his victory speech to direct criticism at Labour leader Keir Starmer's record on Gaza.  

Labour's originally selected candidate for the by-election, councillor Azhar Ali, was abandoned by the party early on in campaigning after a leaked recording revealed him claiming MP Andy McDonald had the Labour whip removed due to "people in the media from certain Jewish quarters". Too late in the process for Ali to be removed from the ballot paper as Labour's candidate, he was left to fight the by-election as an independent.

"Keir Starmer: this is for Gaza –  and you will pay a high price, in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza strip," Galloway said in a victory speech in the early hours of Friday morning. Since Israel's bombardment in Gaza began in October, after Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis in a terror attack, Labour has faced criticism for being hesitant to explicitly demand a ceasefire, instead calling for a "humanitarian pause". Last month the party altered its position to call for a "humanitarian ceasefire".

Galloway and community tensions 

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