George Galloway has clinched a stunning victory in the Rochdale by-election after one of the most divisive and controversial contests in recent history.
Local voters have chosen the firebrand politician as their new MP to replace Sir Tony Lloyd, following the death of the veteran Labour politician last month.
Mr Galloway, who put a hardline pro-Palestinian stance at the heart of his campaign, is now set to end his nine-year absence from the House of Commons.
He will return to Westminster as a representative of a third different political party.
The father-of-six won 12,335 votes in the by-election, which was just under 40 per cent of the vote share.
This put him ahead of second-placed independent candidate David Tully who won 6,638 votes (21 per cent).
Mr Galloway immediately went on the attack against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over the Labour leader’s Gaza stance after being declared the victor.
‘Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,’ he said. ‘You have paid and you will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging, and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip.’
He added: ‘I want to tell Mr Starmer above all, the plates have shifted tonight.
‘Keir Starmer’s problems just got 100 times more serious than they were before today. This is going to spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates in scores of parliamentary constituencies.’
Mr Galloway claimed Labour was now ‘on notice that they have lost the confidence of millions of their voters who loyally and traditionally voted for them’.
The contest to replace Sir Tony was marred by raging tensions over Gaza, with claims of death threats, candidates wearing stab vests, and vandalism.
Mr Galloway, a controversial figure, became the favourite to win in Rochdale after Labour’s bid to retain the seat imploded.
Sir Keir Starmer‘s party had to ditch support for local councillor Azhar Ali as their official candidate following an ‘anti-Semitism’ storm.
George Galloway has clinched a stunning victory in the Rochdale by-election after one of the most divisive and controversial contests in recent history
The ex-Labour MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant was pictured voting in Rochdale on Thursday
Votes for Mr Galloway, who put a hardline pro-Palestinian stance at the heart of his campaign, are seen on a table at a polling station
Mr Galloway, a controversial figure, became the favourite to win in Rochdale after Labour’s bid to retain the seat imploded
Votes are taken out of a ballot box for counting during the Rochdale by-election, which has been one of the most divisive and controversial by-election contests in recent history
Simon Danczuk, the Reform UK candidate, is pictured at the Rochdale count with his wife Claudine and party leader Richard Tice (left)
Mr Danczuk was another ex-Labour MP looking for a way back into Parliament having previously been Rochdale’s MP between 2010 and 2017
Labour’s bid to retain the seat imploded when they had to ditch support for local councillor Azhar Ali as their official candidate following an anti-Semitism storm
Ahead of the result being declared in the early hours of Friday, supporters of Mr Galloway had predicted a comfortable win for their candidate.
Chris Williamson, a former Labour MP and now deputy leader of Mr Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain, told Sky News: ‘We believe that we’ve won comfortably today and it really will, I think, send shockwaves through the Palace of Westminster.
‘But it will also, I think, give hope to tens of thousands, if not millions of people in the country who are looking for a genuine alternative, because our democracy has been stolen from us.
‘The Labour Party and the Conservative Party are effectively often the same thing.’
He added that a victory for Mr Galloway represented ‘a total rejection of mainstream party politics’.
James Giles, campaign manager for Mr Galloway, said: ‘It is going better than our wildest hopes. George will win here by a fair margin.’
A victory rally has been planned by Galloway supporters at their campaign HQ – a Suzuki car dealership in the town.
Simon Danczuk, the Reform UK candidate, was another ex-Labour MP looking for a way back into Parliament having previously been Rochdale’s MP between 2010 and 2017.
He quit Labour almost seven years ago amid a ‘sexting’ scandal, when he was alleged to have sent explicit messages to a teenager.
Reform leader Richard Tice earlier conceded that Mr Danczuk’s bid in Rochdale had failed, telling Sky News: ‘There’s no question Mr Galloway has won this election by what looks like a considerable margin. Everyone else, frankly, is also rans.’
Mr Tice bemoaned how ‘menacing behaviour’ had ‘been a feature of this entire campaign’ including ‘outside polling stations’ on Thursday.
William Howarth, an independent candidate said he agreed with Mr Tice that there had been an ‘element of intimidation’ running through the election campaign.
He revealed he was abused by a man carrying a Palestine flag on Thursday in Rochdale town centre.
After spotting his rosette the man called him ‘a dirty Zionist bastard’, Mr Howarth said. He added the man was arrested by police.
Mr Danczuk previously reported being the subject of a death threat during the campaign with police said to have made an arrest.
There had been thoughts that Mr Ali might go on to win the contest, after Labour discarded him too late to remove him from ballot paper.
He told ITV News on Thursday: ‘I’m still on the ballot paper, I’ve been campaigning for the last few weeks and I’m hoping for a positive result.’
Asked whether he would take up his seat in the House of Commons if he won the by-election, Mr Ali replied: ‘Absolutely.’
There had also been controversy around Green candidate Guy Otten, who had his party’s support withdrawn over comments he made on Twitter.
But, like Mr Ali, his name still appeared on ballot papers when locals went to polling stations on Thursday.
Labour’s campaign fell apart after a recording surfaced of Mr Ali suggesting Israel ‘deliberately allowed’ Hamas terror attacks on October 7 as a pretext to invade Gaza.
Shadow cabinet members Lisa Nandy and Anneliese Dodds both campaigned for him before Labour eventually withdrew support amid growing criticism.
The action against Mr Ali also followed the emergence of a fuller recording in which he was heard commenting on ‘people in the media from certain Jewish quarters’.
Mr Ali subsequently apologised ‘to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments’.
After he was ditched by Labour, local voters were urged to ‘teach Keir Starmer a lesson’ by continuing to support Mr Ali.
Pro-Palestinian backers of Mr Ali were reported to be sharing anti-Starmer posters on WhatsApp in a bid to drum up votes.
Alongside an image of Mr Ali, one read: ‘Sacked by Starmer for speaking on Palestine. It’s time to teach Starmer a lesson in Rochdale. Vote Azhar Ali.’
Another depicted Sir Keir as a clown and dubbed the Labour leader as ‘anti Palestine Starmer’, in comparison to Mr Ali as ‘a stong voice for Palestine’.
Mr Galloway’s campaign was also heavy on the Palestinian cause and Gaza, an issue close to the heart of many of Rochdale’s Muslim population.
His team believed 15,000 votes would be enough to win most by-elections and Rochdale has a 30,000-strong Asian community.
There had been incidents of his campaign posters being torn down.
The contest in Rochdale was prompted by the death of former Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd at the age of 73 last month
A police officer is pictured next to an entrance to a polling station during voting in the Rochdale by-election on Thrsday
Mr Danczuk had branded Mr Galloway’s campaign as divisive and claimed his rival would be the ‘MP for Gaza’, not Rochdale.
The Tories were never expecting any success in Rochdale, with the Greater Manchester constituency having not had a Conservative MP since the 1950s.
Tory ex-Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick on Thursday hit out at how the Rochdale contest had become known as the ‘Gaza by-election’.
He criticised some candidates for being ‘more interested in a conflict they have no influence over than improving the lives of local people’, adding: ‘Shameful.’
Rochdale, which is one of the most deprived in England and voted 60 per cent in favour of Brexit, has also been the subject of Asian grooming gang scandals.
A major report in January concluded that young girls were left ‘at the mercy’ of paedophiles due to failings by senior police and council bosses.
Mr Howarth, involved in the group Parents Against Grooming UK, stood at the by-election as an independent.
He said he had taken to wearing a stab-vest while campaigning, such were tensions in the town during the contest.