George Galloway said Labour leader Keir Starmer has “woken up to his worst nightmare” after his victory in the Rochdale by-election.
In a speech to supporters at his Rochdale campaign headquarters, a second-hand car dealership on the outskirts of town, the veteran political agitator declared that he “crushed Labour” by 10,000 votes.
He said: “This is the first time in British political history that a by-election has taken place and both major parties in the country were completely crushed.”
His victory was, he added, not only the start of a “Rochdale revival” but the beginning of a new movement that would change British politics.
Speaking to reporters subsequently, Galloway promised to field 59 candidates for his Workers Party of Britain in the general election as he encouraged independents in the northwest, the West Midlands, Birmingham and east London to “stand up and fight” by joining his campaign.
Asked by GB News if his party could replicate his Rochdale success in other seats, Galloway said: “Yes, especially in this region. I don’t know what will happen elsewhere in the country but I have now received deputations from Bolton, from Oldham, from Blackburn, from Bury, and from Tameside in Greater Manchester, and that is just the deputations I have received.
“We have got 59 parliamentary candidates ready to go and we will stand in therefore three score Labour seats and either defeat them ourselves or cause their defeat and there will be independents, not Workers Party, but independents that we are ready to support who will stand up and down the country and I know of many already in the field who will now be energised by the result here tonight.
“I think Keir Starmer has woken up this morning to his worst nightmare.”
Galloway also suggested this morning that Reform UK leader Richard Tice attempted to recruit him as a candidate for his party in a recent by-election.
Tice had claimed the Rochdale by-election was “not free and fair” after his candidate, former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, came sixth.
He told reporters: “What we witnessed here is deeply disturbing. Our candidate and campaign team have been subjected to death threats, vile racist abuse, been refused entry to hustings in council buildings and had to be re-located for their own safety.
“We are supposed to be a beacon of democracy, this shameful contest has been more characteristic of a failed state.”
Responding to the accusation, Galloway said: “I think Mr Tice has rather lost his balance, and Mr [Nigel] Farage too, and I remind Mr Tice that I have on my telephone a text from him inviting me to be the Reform UK candidate in a by-election not that long ago.
“I’d prefer not to publish it, but if he keeps telling lies about me I will have to tell the truth about him”
Asked whether his supporters had engaged in bad behaviour, Galloway said: “Absolutely none. Ask the police, ask the police if a single one of our supporters has been arrested or spoken to by them”.
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