Rochdale By-election: George Galloway elected as new MP

Galloway is a grifter of the highest degree

Galloway is a grifter of the highest degree - he knew the demography of his constituency and played it like a fiddle. He has a good history of exploiting both his popularity with the left wing of the labour party who are undoubtedly becoming more disillusioned under Starmer presently, and also pandering to the often strong religious undertones in his communities.

As much as I dislike the man, there remains something to be said about his maverick qualities that can snag voters from seemingly many different backgrounds with his delibarately inflammatory, often anti-semitic statements. What is perhaps more concerning is the fact that people feel enthralled by it and vote accordingly.

Galloway is the Nigel Farage of the left. Both are populists and opportunists at the same time. They both talk a big game outside of politics and in the media but will jump back into politics in a heartbeat whenever it best suits them to get the most votes. I can’t see this as any benefit to the people of Rochdale. What even are his domestic policies? He also doesn’t have the greatest track record of holding down seats and will probably be kicked out in the general election this year anyway. Don’t get me wrong he is a great talker and his speech at the US senate is still up there in the greatest political moments of the last few decades but that’s about it. He’s a talker not a do-er.

Exactly - both individuals do not give a flying fox about principle or integrity. They say what people want to hear regarding red hot issues both global and domestic, and are all bark and no bite. Galloway in particular campaigned on a basis of stopping the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which was 100% strategically tuned to the demography of his constituency. I and many others suspect he cares minimally about Palestinians, and only the votes that come from weaponising their situation.

What horrifies me more is the fact that a man primarily campaigning on a base of a foreign conflict (granted, one that people feel strongly about) somehow has fooled his electorate into believing that voting for him will make Israel put down its swords and go ''Aye, Galloway was right and we should stop this instant''. What concerns me again is that more often than not his support for Palestine manifested in abject anti-semitism. Sure, he had some smaller domestic priorities in his list of promises to voters, but it was thumpingly clear that Palestine was the lynchpin of his campaign. I just don't understand why a rational person would elect a candidate who cares more about a foreign issue rather than promising primarily positive change for Rochdale. Then again, I suspect many voting for him took his politically pandering bait without much further thought given they heard what they wanted to hear.

Sure, he's aggressive, doesn't give a hoot about political etiquette, and has a sharp tongue. I can understand the appeal of this when the two major parties' candidates have less personality and charisma between them than a stale prawn cracker. He just takes these attributes wherever the political pay dirt is.

The relatively rational Galloway voters often do so as a form of protest vote or as an alternative to spoiling their ballot.

With most of the rest of his fan club either of an extremely irrational nature or they are likeminded opportunists keen to leap onto Galloway's bandwagon and fund him.
With many of the opportunistists sharing a few of his most unpleasant habits including the foul ideology and some of his cranky revolutionary leanings.

With all this being said - do you think Galloway has gotten the response he was pining for? The political fear struck into the Labour leadership, the embarassing apology to the people of Rochdale by Starmer, the expected rinsing of the Tory candidate, the speech yesterday given by Sunak concerning the rise of extremism and the undoing of British social fabric that was very obviously (though this was denied) responding to the fallout of Galloway's election? He's once again caught the attention of the two main parties and several more. He's gotten exactly the response he was hoping for. What other candidates do you think of who's election could illicit such a panicked a response from the PM?

He's living for it.

Yep.
The leaders of the two main political parties have played straight into Galloway's hands and gifted him more free publicity than money can buy.

Galloway along with his campaign teams from the SWP & STWC networks invested immense time and effort into the by-election.
While the Conservatives, Labour, the Greens and Reform ran pitifully inept campaigns having chosen absolutely hopeless candidates that a savvy 4 year old could have vetted more effectively than they did.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68467359 - 'George Galloway vows his party will take Angela Rayner's seat' BBC News 4/3/24

"making sure Keir Starmer does not win". This isn't about helping the people of Rochdale. This isn't about Palestinians.

This is about Galloway and his ego still being ****y that he got kicked out of the Labour Party 21 years ago.

The mainstream parties and also Reform shot themselves in the foot with their own complacency and arrogance. They expected their ''name brands'' to provide all the legitimacy to their candidates they expected. Unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming obselete especially with the widespread apathy towards the two main parties (and others such as the Lib Dems) and their lack of a clear manifesto and defining policies. If anything, the disillusionment with mainstream parties has brought the need to cultivate grassroots candidates who genuinely resonate with their communities and local issues back to the forefront.

Galloway may have not played to explicitly local issues, but he did resonate with a large section of his local community (granted, not through the best words and deeds) through his religious and cultural pandering. I have a nasty suspicion that as Britain's issues with ''parallel societies'' in several urban areas consisting of ethnic/religious minorities failing to integrate grow, there will be more Galloway types arising. Personally I think Sunak is a weak leader but we did see him in his address just about alluding to a rise in extremism going hand in hand with the mass failure of integration and the increasing lack of common unifying factors amongst modern Brits. I suspect he would have taken this point further had he not needed to factor in sounding politically incorrect.

The situation in Gaza I would say did more to expose the polarisation of British society than polarise it itself. Sunak's remarks about a descent into ''mob rule'' weren't entirely inaccurate given the alleged harassment Galloway's supporters engaged in. We are seeing more and more situations arise of candidates being elected based on their religious/cultural loyalties to their electorate rather than their political substance. Voting blocs are quite literally being demarcated across ethno-religious lines to an ever increasing extent, undoubtedly a sign of reducing rates of integration and participation in mainstream British society - hence, why Galloway ran off the issues he did.

A lot of people seem to dislike the fact that he has been elected. I don't really see the issue though. Voters in Rochdale clearly care a lot about the UK's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and they feel that Galloway will represent their views in parliament better than the candidates from other parties. He got the most votes, so he won. That's is how democracy is supposed to work isn't it...?

He is one of the pustules of British politics that just won't got away. He won't use his position to focus on local issues for the people of Rochdale, instead it will just be a platform for him to get the media attention he craves.

Highly amused that Reform put up Simon Danczuk as their candidate. Clearly targeting Rochdale's groomer demographic.