Galloway’s landslide means all bets are off for the next election

George Galloway gives his victory speech from the podium after being declared winner of the Rochdale by-election following the count

He’s back. Like the foe in one of those teen horror franchises of the ’80s, George Galloway simply refuses to disappear forever.

The former MP for Glasgow Kelvin, Bethnal Green and Bow and Bradford West can now add MP for Rochdale to his long CV, and few will bet on his being ousted from his latest perch at this year’s general election. Galloway is a unique political character, a one-off, and for that at least, the rest of us can be truly thankful.

There are so many extraordinary aspects of last night’s by-election, and Galloway’s victory by a 6000-vote margin of victory on behalf of the Workers’ Party is only one of them, and not even the most remarkable.

That prize goes to the fact that despite Labour’s “official” candidate coming fourth in what should have been one of its safest seats, (finishing behind even the Conservatives), the party can afford to shrug off this humiliation. Rochdale will have no impact on Labour’s general election prospects, despite the party being rightly blamed for the latest comeback of the Frank Sinatra of British politics. The mention of Rochdale will evoke a frustrated roll of the eyes among Keir Starmer’s closest advisers and strategists, not the frenzied panic which, on paper, it should.

Consider, for example, the unusual circumstances of this contest. It was triggered by the death of the previous incumbent, Tony Lloyd, and assumed to be a shoo-in for Labour. But then the party succeeded in seizing defeat from the jaws of victory by allowing a wholly inappropriate candidate, Azhar Ali, to be shortlisted. The newspaper revelations that Councillor Ali was an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist were well-timed to cause Labour maximum damage, coming after nominations had formally closed and preventing him from being replaced as Labour’s standard-bearer.

Which is why this result has little significance for the party more widely, unless a similar fate is likely to befall hundreds of other Labour candidates after nominations close at the general election. You never know, I suppose.

But this was not Labour’s night, it was George Galloway’s. Even his most vociferous critics will find it difficult not to admire the man’s resilience and tenacity, let alone his oratorical abilities, which were in full flow last night as he castigated his old party over its approach to Gaza.

Galloway was always more popular among the rank and file of the Labour Party than among his parliamentary colleagues. An unverifiable story records that he once asked Donald Dewar, the late Scottish Secretary and First Minister, why people took such an instant dislike to him. “Because it saves time, George,” replied Donald.

But there is no doubt that in his latest political incarnation, Galloway has tapped into a seam of support that will make the other parties uneasy. Until now, the mainstream parties (but especially Labour) have skilfully avoided having to confront the ugly stain of sectarianism. Labour, the traditional repository of British Muslim votes, managed to win the Batley and Spen by-election in 2021, for example, while successfully avoiding taking a stand on the scandal of a local teacher being forced into hiding by fundamentalist Muslims who were offended by his use in the classroom of cartoons of Mohammed. The party is far more comfortable talking about allegations of Islamophobia than confronting the often ugly and threatening behaviour of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have besieged MPs’ offices and homes and even parliament itself in recent months.

Galloway’s return to the green benches of the Commons will make this trick far more difficult for Labour to perform. He has won Rochdale on an unambiguous platform of opposition to Zionism – the belief that Jews have a right to their homeland – and an appeal to Muslim voters’ frustration with Keir Starmer’s measured support for Israel. Now that Galloway has stepped back on to the biggest soap box in the country, Labour will have to decide whether to ignore him or confront him.

As to the new Rochdale MP’s performance in the Commons in the next six months or so, we will have to wait and see, but not for too long. Galloway IV: The Revenge. This time it’s personal.

%n

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day’s agenda from The Telegraph – direct to your inbox seven days a week.