Maverick politician George Galloway returns to the British Parliament after profitable a by-election in Rochdale, the place he held a majority because of the Gaza warfare.
Representing Britain’s Labor Party, he gained about 40% of the vote in Thursday’s ballot, almost 6,000 extra votes than his nearest rival.
“Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have the identical again cheek and so they each got here out robust tonight right here in Rochdale, and so they actually harm,” he mentioned on the time of his victory, referring to the leaders of Britain’s two main political events. .
Galloway campaigned totally on Israel’s warfare in Gaza, which has killed greater than 30,000 Palestinians. The British authorities has refused to again a ceasefire, however the opposition Labor Party lastly endorsed it in latest days.
“There are tens of millions of individuals within the UK who’re revolting towards our position – to start with, in the entire Palestinian tragedy within the first place, however [also] In help of our authorities and opposition events [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s genocide,” Galloway informed Middle East Eye final week.
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His victory in Rochdale is the newest controversy in a decades-long political profession formed by occasions within the Middle East and controversial photograph calls with a few of the area’s most infamous leaders. It exhibits a brief episode.
Mr. Galloway’s work with Palestine started greater than 50 years in the past.
In 1980, he helped elevate the Palestinian flag on the workplaces of Dundee Council in Scotland, the place the politician grew up. He additionally efficiently campaigned for Dundee to develop into a sister metropolis with the Palestinian metropolis of Nablus.
He was first elected as a Labor MP for Glasgow Hillhead in 1987.
Labor and the Conservatives might endlessly remorse abandoning Britain’s Muslims
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In the early Nineteen Nineties, he strongly opposed British involvement within the Gulf War, which started after Iraqi chief Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
Years later, he described Kuwait as “clearly a part of the bigger entire of Iraq, stolen from the homeland by the disloyal Albion.”
In 1994, Galloway was criticized for assembly Saddam and telling him, “Sir, I salute your braveness, your energy, your fortitude.” He later mentioned he was praising the Iraqi folks, not the Iraqi chief.
In the 2000s, he once more turned a fierce opponent of the US- and UK-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent warfare. He had his second and last reunion with Saddam in August 2002.
It was the difficulty of the Iraq War in 2003 that finally led to his expulsion from the Labor Party.
Mr Galloway was accused of bringing Labor into disrepute by saying Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush had attacked Iraq “like wolves”. Defiant MPs additionally referred to as on British troops to “refuse to observe unlawful orders”.
In May 2005, he gave proof earlier than a U.S. Senate committee on prices that Saddam’s regime gave him the correct to purchase 20 million barrels of oil for revenue.
In a speech that drew important world media consideration, he mentioned the costs had been the “mom of all smokescreens” to cowl up crimes dedicated by the United States and its allies in Iraq.
The speech got here simply days after he returned to parliament with shock victories within the east London constituencies of Bethnal Green and Bow within the 2005 basic election.
Representing the anti-war Respect Party, he defeated Labor incumbent Oona King, who had beforehand voted in favor of the Iraq War.
A yr later, whereas nonetheless an MP, he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, the place he infamously wore a leotard and pretended to be a cat.
“I don’t focus on Israelis.”
Although he didn’t win a seat within the 2010 election, he gained the Bradford West constituency in northern England in a 2012 by-election.
Bradford, Bethnal Green and Bow each have giant Muslim communities, resulting in accusations that Galloway is intentionally concentrating on Muslim areas to speak about points resembling Palestine.
In response, he informed MEE final week: “I’ve been on the forefront of Palestine activism within the UK for over 50 years…I’m not parachuting anyplace to speak about Palestine. I’ve been speaking about Palestine all my grownup life.”Life . “
Galloway prompted controversy in 2013 when he walked out of an occasion at Oxford University and mentioned, “I do not acknowledge Israel and I do not argue with Israelis.”
“I’m not going to parachute anyplace to speak about Palestine. I’ve been speaking about all of it my grownup life.”
– George Galloway
The Israeli pupil he was scheduled to debate was Elon Levy, who’s at present a senior spokesperson for the Israeli authorities.
Galloway got here below fireplace in 2013 when he denied that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had carried out a chemical weapons assault on a Damascus suburb. The assault was later confirmed by UN specialists.
The British MP beforehand met with President Assad in Damascus in 2005.
In latest years, Mr. Galloway has labored for a number of tv networks, together with Iranian-owned Press TV, Kremlin-owned Russia Today and Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen.
He misplaced his Bradford seat in 2015 in a bitter contest with Labor MP Naz Shah.
He went on to marketing campaign for Brexit and hosted a chat radio present from 2016 to 2019. He was later fired from the station for feedback it deemed “anti-Semitic views.”
Galloway misplaced three additional by-elections in Manchester Gorton, West Bromwich East and Batley and Spen.
Victory in Rochdale on Thursday night time means he’ll now signify 4 completely different parliamentary constituencies, equaling the document set by Winston Churchill.