Ex-England cricketer among hundreds to stand for George Galloway’s party

The party says membership has grown to more than 10,000 since George Galloway’s victory in Rochdale. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

The former England cricketer Monty Panesar and a former Ukip MEP are among hundreds of candidates who will run under the banner of George Galloway’s Workers party at the general election.

The party, which is seeking to capitalise on discontent over Labour’s handling of the Gaza conflict, also said it would support the former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Claudia Webbe if they ran again as independents.

“Sir Keir Starmer fears us like a turkey fears Christmas,” said Galloway, in comments released by his party before it formally unveils its candidates.

“We are here – now a national force. For Britain, For Gaza. For the working class.”

Galloway is hoping to replicate his victory in the Rochdale byelection last month when he won almost 40% of the vote after a contest that was dominated by the conflict in Gaza. Labour abandoned its candidate, Azhar Ali, over inflammatory comments he made about Israel.

But while the Workers party is not widely regarded as being in a position to win any other Westminster seats – and Galloway will face a battle to hold on to his own – it could cost Labour some seats as it peels votes away from Starmer’s party.

Another Workers party candidate will be the former Labour MP for Derby North Chris Williamson, who lost a high court fight in 2019 to be reinstated in the Labour party after he was suspended in a row over antisemitism. He is to run in Derby South.

The party announced that other candidates would include Khalil Ahmed, a Labour candidate from 2019, who is to stand in Wycombe; the former Ukip MEP Amjad Bashir, who defected to the Conservatives in 2015 and will stand in Pudsey; two former British ambassadors, Peter Ford and Craig Murray, and a number of Labour councillors who have defected to Galloway’s party; and Amrit Mann, who served as the mayor of Hounslow in 2011-12 and will run for Feltham and Heston.

Another former Ukip candidate who will run for the Workers party is Harry Boota, who was suspended as a Tory candidate in 2016 after suggesting that homosexuality could be the result of being abused as a child.

Galloway’s victory in Rochdale gave the party more prominence and it has said its membership has passed 10,000. While Gaza will be one of the central planks of its campaign, it is also seeking to appeal to disillusioned Corbyn supporters.

Corbyn has yet to announce whether he will stand again in Islington North, but any backing on the ground from organised groups could be critical to him keeping his seat.

Other places where Workers party backing could make a difference include Bethnal Green and Stepney, where Labour faces a challenge from the independent candidate Mohammed Akunjee, a lawyer who has represented Shamima Begum, one of three girls who left the UK to join Islamic State and was later deprived of her UK citizenship.