From controversies and political views to reality TV ridicule

After four decades of controversial political victories, George Galloway is making a comeback … again.

The 69-year-old’s triumph in the Rochdale by-election marks his seventh election to Parliament for three different parties.

The left-wing firebrand has now represented four cities – only Winston Churchill is ahead of him, having moved across five constituencies.

As in previous by-elections, Muslim voters backed him in droves – this time because he tapped into anger about the Israel-Hamas conflict and a refusal among establishment politicians to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he told voters in the Greater Manchester town. “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 Gaza, in the Gaza Strip.”

Throughout his long career in politics, Mr Galloway has divided popular opinion.

For many, his most memorable – and often-ridiculed – stunt has been pretending to be a cat during an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

Some have praised him for criticising the Iraq war and the Israeli government – but he has also faced accusations of antisemitism, which he has always denied.

He describes himself as socialist, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist, having called for the “apartheid” state of Israel to be dismantled.

His campaign in Rochdale was aimed primarily at the Muslims who make up 30 per cent of voters there.

It was not dissimilar to his last by-election win in Bradford in 2012, when his supporters carried him from the count shouting “All praise to Allah” and supporters chanted “Viva Palestina!”

Born into poverty in Dundee, in 1954, Mr Galloway worked on the production line at Michelin tyres and became an active trade unionist.

His pro-Palestine stance dates back decades. In 1980, he was involved in flying the Palestinian flag from the offices of Dundee Council and the twinning of Dundee with the West Bank town of Nablus.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1987 as the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead.

Always on the left of the party, he was expelled by Labour in 2003 for his prominent opposition to the war in Iraq.

He was accused of bringing Labour into disrepute after saying British troops should refuse to obey orders because the invasion of Iraq was illegal.

During the 90s, he visited Iraq multiple times, telling its leader Saddam Hussein: “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability”.

He joined the left-wing Respect Party in 2004, winning unexpectedly in Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour’s Oona King. Two days later he was suspended from Parliament for 18 days after a Commons select committee found “strong circumstantial evidence” that the UN’s oil for food programme had been used to fund his charity, the Mariam Appeal, to his knowledge.

Appearing before a US senate sub-committee in 2005, he hit back, slamming claims he had been given credits to buy Iraqi oil by Saddam Hussein as the “mother of all smokescreens” to cover the “crimes” committed as part of the invasion of Iraq.

He also accused senators investigating the UN Oil-for-Food programme of being “cavalier” with justice.

While he was an MP in 2006, he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, where he pretended to be cat as part of animal role play exercises.

Donning a red leotard, he got on all fours and pretended to lick milk from the cupped hands of television actor Rula Lenska.

She rubbed the “cream” from his “whiskers” and petted his head and behind his ears. Commentators widely ridiculed him.

Mr Galloway lost his seat in the 2010 general election but stood in the 2012 Bradford West by-election, winning a landslide.

Soon afterwards he attracted some criticism after describing sexual assault allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as “bad sexual etiquette”. The investigation into Assange was later abandoned.

Mr Galloway then lost his seat again in 2015, and was defeated in a 2021 by-election in Batley and Spen.

In 2019, the Charity Commission found that Viva Palestina, a charity he set up to deliver aid to Gaza, may not have conducted any charitable activity even though it had received £1m in donations.

Mr Galloway responded to the Commission’s findings on X (then Twitter) by saying the organisation was “never a charity”.

He has had closer ties to Russia than most politicians. His other work has included presenting on Kremlin-backed news channel Russia Today and a radio programme which was broadcast on the Russian state-owned Sputnik service.

Although he has echoed some Russian taking points on the war in Ukraine, he threatened to sue X, when it labelled his accounts as “Russian state-affiliated media”.

He has also breached Ofcom rules on impartiality multiple times – three times for a lack of balance about the Skripal poisonings and also for bias over antisemitism on Talk Radio. Talk Radio later sacked him for a separate social media post deemed antisemitic.

Galloway’s campaign in Rochdale

During his campaign in Rochdale, Mr Galloway promised to speak out on Gaza in Parliament and challenge Labour, which initially gave Israel full backing following the 7 October attack led by Hamas.

After much public pressure Labour finally changed tack to call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” on 20 February.

Although his pro-Palestinian stance won him the by-election, he also campaigned on some local issues, saying he wanted to immediately reopen maternity services and A&E at Rochdale infirmary.

The town has no A&E or its maternity unit was closed more than 10 years ago. Expectant mothers typically go to Oldham to give birth.

He also promised to get rid of grooming gangs which have led to children being sexually abused and have become a concern for locals.

He said he wanted to secure the future of Rochdale AFC, which could go bust if it does not find investment before the end of March. The town’s football club was relegated from the Football League after 102 years last season.

Mr Galloway promised to “bring back big names to our town centre like Primark” and clean the town hall clock. Many big stores did not reopen after lockdowns and many shopfronts are boarded up.

In his victory speech, he promised a “grand alliance” with independents and others to get mainstream parties out of the local council.

Although he does not have any ties to the city, he pledged to live there now that he has been elected.

Founding the Workers Party of Britain

Mr Galloway established the Workers Party of Britain in 2019, which is “building a new working-class politics in Britain”. They define the working class as “the 99 per cent”.

In its literature, he positions his party as an alternative to Labour.

“The Workers Party of Britain emerged out of the complete abandonment of the working class majority of Great Britain by Labour,” the party website reads.

“Labour are Labour in name only. Labour do not represent the workers, they serve the elite, the class that does not work: the ruling class. But Labour likes to pretend it is on the side of the workers. It has stolen the name ‘Labour’. Labour is the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

The Party’s pledges include an end to “imperial wars” and “financial domination”, starting with a withdrawal from NATO.

It says it “defends” the “achievements” of the Soviet Union, China and Cuba in attempting to “break free of imperialist domination”.

It also maintains that the “EU imperialist bloc” and ruling classes have tried to rewrite history to “equate the Soviet Union with Hitlerite Germany”.

Among policy ideas, the party says it wants to increase the personal tax threshold to £21,200 of wages for two million low-paid workers. Its other promises include cheap and secure housing for all, free pre-school childcare, free lifelong education and no waiting lists for healthcare.

The party wants to see more public service companies nationalised, such as water companies, the electricity grid and Railtrack. It also wants a “much clearer debate on Net Zero” and is against making working people pay for subsidies to large-scale green industrialisation.

To form the Workers Party, Mr Galloway enlisted Chris Williamson, former Labour MP for Derby North, who was suspended from the party following his comments about its handling of antisemitism.

In October, police said they were investigating him for tweeting that “Israel has forfeited any right to exist”.

George Galloway’s win in the Rochdale by-election is a “dark day” for the Jewish community in the UK, a leading body has warned.

A victorious Mr Galloway, who won on a divisive campaign that focused on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, said the result was “for Gaza”.

He warned Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would “pay a high price” for his stance on the issue.

The Jewish Board of Deputies condemned Galloway’s win, describing him as “a demagogue and conspiracy theorist who has brought the politics of division and hate to every place he has ever stood for Parliament”.

“His election is a dark day for the Jewish community in this country and for British politics in general. We believe he should be shunned as a pariah by all Parliamentarians,” a spokesperson said.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has said it was “extremely concerned” about Mr Galloway and his “atrocious record of baiting the Jewish community”.

A spokesperson said his “historic inflammatory rhetoric” – particularly in light of tensions over the conflict in Gaza – led to concerns about how he will “use the platform of the House of Commons”.