George Galloway returns to the Commons after winning the Rochdale by-election – his seventh election victory in a fourth different constituency with a third different party. His former party, Labour, had been expected to win the by-election but its campaign was thrown into disarray by a leaked recording of Azhar Ali's inflammatory remarks about Israel. Mr Galloway stood on a fiercely anti-Labour and pro-Gaza ceasefire stance, targeting the sizeable Asian and Muslim communities in Rochdale. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Invariably labelled a left-wing firebrand, George Galloway's outspokenness often provokes
00:05 strong reactions.
00:06 "And the wel... and the welcome, apart from that stage."
00:13 "I'm elected because of my views, not in spite of my views."
00:20 And today he won his seventh election victory, this time in Rochdale for the Workers' Party
00:25 of Britain, which he founded four years ago.
00:28 Again, provoking strong reactions from critics and supporters.
00:31 "George Galloway, you want to ruin our future."
00:40 Until a few weeks ago, the by-election here was widely expected to be won by Labour's
00:45 Azhar Ali.
00:46 However, the candidate's comments that suggested Israel was complicit in Hamas' October attack
00:51 led the party to withdraw their support.
00:54 And inswept the biggest thorn in Labour's side.
00:57 This is the third time Galloway has taken a seat off his former party.
01:01 His political career began with Labour in 1987, when he was elected MP for Glasgow Hillhead,
01:07 later Glasgow Kelvin, whom he represented for 18 years.
01:11 He became well-known as a supporter of the Iraqi people and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath
01:16 Party, and was reprimanded by party whips for an unauthorised trip to Iraq in 1994,
01:22 where he praised the country's then-leader, Saddam Hussein.
01:25 "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."
01:32 Galloway was a vocal critic of the 2003 war in Iraq, and he was expelled from Labour later
01:38 that year for bringing the party into disrepute.
01:40 "The British troops are there illegally.
01:43 The soldiers are being issued with illegal orders."
01:46 But he remained a nuisance for then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, winning the seat of Bethnal
01:51 Green in the 2005 general election with his newly-founded Respect Party.
01:56 His victory speech then...
01:57 "Mr Blair, this is for Iraq."
02:04 ...was echoed in the early hours of this morning.
02:06 "Pierre Stormont, this is for Galway."
02:12 A majority of 5,500 in Rochdale was not quite as emphatic as his 2012 by-election victory
02:18 in Bradford West, which he won by a margin of 10,000 votes.
02:23 But his return to the Commons benches cannot be ignored by Labour or the Tory government.
02:28 "It affects the British Parliament's attitude towards the war in Gaza.
02:32 First of all, I've got the freshest mandate, the biggest mandate, to speak against the
02:38 ironclad consensus for Israel on the British front benches."
02:42 Sir Keir Starmer, however, remains confident of his party's future prospects in Rochdale.
02:48 "Galway only won because Labour didn't stand a candidate.
02:53 I regret that we had to withdraw our candidate and apologise to voters in Rochdale.
02:58 But I took that decision.
03:00 It was the right decision.
03:02 And when I say I've changed the Labour Party, I mean it.
03:06 Obviously, we will put a first-class candidate, a unifier, before the voters in Rochdale at
03:11 the general election."
03:13 Whether a first-class candidate can win Rochdale back for Labour at the next general election
03:17 remains to be seen.
03:19 George Galloway has less than a year to convince constituents of his long-term suitability
03:24 as the town's MP.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]