London, UK- Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway was elected to the UK parliament on Friday after tapping into anger over the Israel-Hamas war in a chaotic by-election marred by anti-Semitism allegations.
Galloway, 69, first became an MP in 1987 and will return to the House of Commons for the first time since 2015 after winning the seat of Rochdale, in the north of England, by nearly 6,000 votes.
The turbulent vote saw the main opposition Labor party withdraw its candidate, Azhar Ali, after he touted a conspiracy theory that Israel had allowed Hamas to carry out is deadly attack on October 7.
Galloway put the Gaza conflict front and center of his campaign in Rochdale, which has a 30 percent Muslim population.
“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” Galloway, leader of the fringe Workers Party of Great Britain, said in his victory speech, referencing Labor’s leader.
“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.
Galloway, nicknamed “Gorgeous George”, gained international notoriety in 2005 when he was called to testify over Iraq in the US Senate.
A Labor spokesperson said: “We deeply regret that the Labor party was unable to field a candidate in this by-election and apologize to the people of Rochdale. George Galloway only won because Labor did not stand.
“Rochdale deserved the chance to vote for an MP that would bring communities together and deliver for working people. George Galloway is only interested in stoking fear and division. As an MP he will be a damaging force in our communities and public life,” the spokesperson added.
