Misplaced Support and Undue Concern: George Galloway's by-election victory

Photo Courtesy: RussellHarryLee

George Galloway’s by-election victory in Rochdale has been hailed by some as a shock to the UK political system. Galloway himself declared that he had “spanked” Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, who he described as “two cheeks of the same arse”. But how significant is the return of this divisive figure in the wider scale of UK politics?

Galloway was expelled from the Labour party in 2003, and until 2015 sat in the House of Commons as an MP for 3 different constituencies. He has lost several by-election campaigns since then, as well as unsuccessfully running to be London mayor, and appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. However, after the Labour Party candidate for Rochdale had his support removed by the party due to antisemitic comments, Galloway became the front runner and won by over 5,000 votes. Dominating the campaign was the Israel-Hamas War, as Galloway has been extremely vocal about his opposition to Zionism and his support for groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. 

Many on the left celebrated Galloway’s victory, arguing that it serves as a warning for Labour and what could happen to them at the next General Election if they continue their soft stance on Palestine, given that Rochdale was previously a safe Labour seat. However, considering that there was no Labour endorsed candidate running in this by-election, it would be wrong to correlate Galloway’s victory with a nationwide disillusionment with Keir Starmer and imply that he will “pay a high price” for it electorally.

Labour should, however, take this chaotic outlier of an election as a lesson; that a significant proportion of Muslim voters - a demographic that is statistically loyal to Labour - have felt alienated by the party’s stance on Palestine. Whilst the recent Labour amendment calling for a ceasefire is certainly an improvement on their earlier position, far more needs to be done to build bridges, and trust must be regained among voters who have felt let down by Starmer and his front bench.

Galloway’s victory should not be one celebrated by the left. He is known for moving from constituency to constituency, inciting division and spreading disinformation, only to leave soon after. In his last mandate, the only people with poorer attendance records were the Sinn Fein MPs who didn’t sit. His priority is not representing the people of Rochdale, it is to gain larger platforms for his political beliefs. He is known for openly associating with Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein, as well as promoting the idea that the 2020 US election was fraudulent, and claiming that the media is controlled by Zionists.

During the Rochdale by election, he was found to have sent different campaign material to different demographics; whilst Muslim voters received letters primarily about the conflict in Gaza, voters in white middle class areas received material that declared Galloway didn’t “like some of the things they’re teaching in our schools”, that “a man cannot become a woman” and that he would “make Rochdale great again”. Whilst his long fought stance on Gaza may be applauded for his willingness to speak out against lack of action by mainstream parties, his blatant anti-trans and populist rhetoric should immediately cancel out any positive political credibility he has on the left. 

In the Prime Minister’s speech outside Downing Street the day after Galloway’s election he called the result “ beyond alarming” and went on to warn against the dangers of extremism and the threat to democracy that the likes of Galloway pose. But whilst Galloway’s views certainly are extreme and his political behavior over the last two decades has been at odds with proper democratic representation, in terms of the bigger picture, he isn’t much cause for concern.

A by-election is easy to win on a single-issue platform, but when, at the next general election, the people of Rochdale will be faced with a choice: a Labour Party candidate with a manifesto packed with pledges about the cost of living crisis and the NHS, and George Galloway, whose only political motivation is himself, he will be shown the door - as he has several times before, and hopefully fade into political obscurity.