George Galloway has confetti thrown at him by Just Stop Oil protestors, as he gives his victory speech in Rochdale
By Jennifer McKiernan
BBC political reporter
George Galloway is back in Parliament with a resounding win in the Rochdale by-election after a campaign in which the Gaza war was a running theme.
“Keir Starmer – this is for Gaza,” the former Labour MP said, after polling 12,335 votes, nearly 6,000 more than any other candidate.
Labour, which had a 10,000 majority, had withdrawn support for candidate, Azhar Ali over anti-Semitic comments.
Mr Galloway will take the Commons seat for the Workers Party of Britain.
He has previously been an MP for Labour between 1987 and 2005 and then for the Respect Party from 2006 to 2010.
Smaller parties left the mainstream candidates in the dust in the Rochdale vote, with second place going to independent Dave Tully, a local businessman and rugby league fan, with 6,638 votes.
The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats were left in third, fourth and fifth place respectively.
In his victory speech, Mr Galloway highlighted the local voters’ rejection of the two main parties in Westminster.
He said: “Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale.”
