As pro-Palestinian firebrand George Galloway stormed home in Rochdale by-election, fury over the Israel-Gaza war is causing chaos across the political landscape.
The conflict became the stand-out issue in yesterday’s Rochdale by-election which saw Mr Galloway triumph with almost 40 per cent of the vote.
His victory was today prompted warnings from campaigners against antisemitism while Labour accused the newly-elected MP of stoking up ‘division and fear’.
Yet there are also clear splits in Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s party over Israel’s response to Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, with critics saying he should do more to oppose the approach taken by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The Rochdale vote – triggered by the death in January of Labour MP Tony Lloyd – became dubbed a referendum on Gaza by commentators and Mr Galloway.
George Galloway gave a victory speech after winning the Rochdale by-election overnight
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in London’s Parliament Square on Wednesday last week
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was seen this morning after their ex-candidate came fourth
Mr Galloway triumphed with independent party candidate David Tully as runner-up
Azhar Ali was chosen as the Labour candidate but later dropped over comments about Israel
He has used the Palestinian flag as part of his campaign, with his slogan being: ‘For Rochdale, For Gaza.’
Referring to the town’s large Muslim population, he told the Mail: ‘Gaza is the main issue facing at least 40,000 people.’
Workers Party of Britain leader Mr Galloway, 69, first became an MP – while with Labour – in 1987 and will return to the Commons for the first time since 2015 after winning in Rochdale by almost 6,000 votes.
He said in his victory speech overnight: ‘Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza.
‘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.’
Last Friday night saw Conservative and Labour fundraiser events targeted by pro-Palestine campaigners who stormed venues in Stoke and Oxford to confront Tory councillors and Labour MP Anneliese Dodds.
In London, thousands have taken to the streets in recent weeks, with Tower Bridge shut down by protesters setting off flares and chanting ‘Free Palestine’ and campaign slogans projected onto Big Ben.
The protests came as Parliament was brought to a standstill on Wednesday last week after the Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle allowed a vote on a Labour motion for an ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’ in Gaza.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Westminster scenes sent ‘a very dangerous signal’ that ‘intimidation works’, being ‘toxic for our society and our politics’.
Mr Sunak added that legitimate protests had been ‘hijacked by extremists’ and that elected representatives had been ‘verbally threatened and physically, violently targeted’.
Mr Galloway kisses his wife Putri Gayatri Pertiwi during the by-election declaration in Rochdale
The ex-Labour MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant was pictured voting on Thursday
Labour today said Mr Galloway ‘only won because Labour did not stand’ in Rochdale after the party dropped its candidate Azhar Ali for suggesting Israel was complicit in Hamas’ October attack.
Mr Ali remained listed as the Labour candidate as the party’s decision came too late for ballot papers to be changed.
He 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 strong voice for Palestine’.
After the by-election result, a Labour spokesperson today said: ‘We deeply regret that the Labour Party was unable to field a candidate in this by-election, and apologise to the people of Rochdale. George Galloway only won because Labour did not stand.’
Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator, told Sky News: ‘George Galloway is someone who stokes up division and fear. This isn’t how we would have wanted this by-election to play out.’
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
‘Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,’ the 69-year-old declared, as soon as he was announced as the winning candidate in Rochdale just before 3am
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
The Lewisham West and Penge MP also suggested suggested Labour would not change its position on the Middle East war, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
A spokesperson for the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “George Galloway has an atrocious record of baiting the Jewish community.”
They added: “Given his historic inflammatory rhetoric and the current situation faced by the Jewish community in this country, we are extremely concerned by how he may use the platform of the House of Commons in the remaining months of this Parliament.’
Left-wing pressure group Momentum said Sir Keir’s ‘failure to stand with Gaza in its hour of need left the door open for George Galloway’.
‘To avoid any more damaging repeats, Starmer should end the factional abuse of Labour’s selection processes and stand up for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza.’
Sir Keir suffered a huge revolt in the Commons last November as 56 of his MPs defied him and backed calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
He also lost 10 Labour frontbenchers – including former leadership contender Jess Phillips – after they broke ranks with their party leader.
Mr Galloway’s new majority of 5,697 votes amounted to 18.3 per cent of the total, on a turnout of 39.7%, a little higher than the two recent by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood.
The surprise runner-up was David Tully, a local businessman and independent candidate, who secured more than 6,600 votes.
Protesters beamed the phrases ‘ceasefire now’, ‘stop bombing Gaza’, ‘end the war now’ and ‘stop war’ on to Big Ben on Wednesday last week
Pro-Palestine protesters shut down Tower Bridge on Friday last week as they demanded a ceasefire in Gaza
Labour’s bid to retain Rochdale imploded when they had to ditch support for local councillor Azhar Ali as their official candidate following an antisemitism storm
Shocking video emerged last weekend of a pro-Palestine protester entering a local Conservative Association fundraiser event and confronting councillors.
Members of the Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered outside the Mirchi Restaurant in Shelton where a dinner was reportedly being held to support the re-election of Ben Adam, the Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire.
Protesters outside chanted ‘Free Palestine’ and held up signs calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying they were exercising their right to a peaceful demonstration.
A man who entered the restaurant was filmed branding guests ‘Zionists’ and ‘child murderers’ as he shouted and pointed at a councillor, telling him to ‘take it like a man’.
Councillor Dave Evans wrote on X of his experience: ‘This ‘peaceful’ protest involved grown men screaming Tory scum at my 11-year-old daughter.
Protesters filmed themselves outside a local Conservative event in Stoke, captioning the post ‘Pro-Zionist fundraiser held to account’
Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign posted on Facebook to say that more than 100 people turned up to the protest and that it was ‘fantastic to see such a strong community turnout’
‘These people aren’t really bothered about a cause, they make little videos like that try and make a profile for themselves and intimidate others. A disgrace to our city.’
Councillor Joe Porter also said: ‘In a free and prosperous democracy, political parties should be able to hold events without fear or terror.
‘I believe in the right to protest, but these anti-Israel protests – including the one outside our Staffordshire Conservatives fundraising event in Stoke-on-Trent tonight – are a step too far with threats against elected representatives.
‘It was shocking to see how many young children were there as they should be in bed, not out chanting ‘ceasefire now’ at night.
‘We all want peace in Israel-Gaza and for all sides to work together to achieve an end to the ongoing conflict. There’s no need for so much division. The aggressive protests achieve nothing.’
MP Jonathan Gullis shared the footage on X, and asked: ‘Why did Staffordshire Police let key activists from the hate mob walk past them and into the restaurant, so they could intimidate and harass people at a private local Stoke-on-Trent Conservative fundraiser?’
He added: ‘Somebody could have been seriously hurt.’
Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign posted on Facebook to reject claims that the ‘surprise protest’ was ‘harming the democratic process by bringing this fundraiser to a halt.’
Two protesters stormed a Labour fundraiser dinner where they told Anneliese Dodds to ‘stop Tory oil licenses’ and urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
‘The audacity of hosting a Tory fundraising dinner when 1.5million Palestinian people are facing siege, starvation and an imminent Israeli ground assault is frankly disgusting,’ it said in a statement.
It added that more than 100 people turned up to the protest and that it was ‘fantastic to see such a strong community turnout.’
‘The people of Stoke-on-Trent made sure the local Tory Party, key supporters of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, couldn’t finish their food or their event,’ they said.
MP Anneliese Dodds faced chants of ‘you can’t hide, you support genocide’ as she walked across the street
On the same night, Labour held a fundraiser dinner in Oxford which was attended by the party’s chair Anneliese Dodds.
Interrupting the meeting, one protester shouted: ‘Anneliese Dodds, I’m here with Just Stop Oil to demand that you revoke the Tory oil licences. We sent you a letter and received no response to our demand that you stand against the Tory licences.
‘The Tories have absolutely smeared my future with oil licences.’
Another then stood up with a Palestinian flag and began shouting: ‘Anneliese Dodds, I am here with Action Against War Crimes and we are saying when is the immediate ceasefire in Gaza?
‘Labour is supposed to be the party of the people and yet it refuses to stand up for human lives.’
Ms Dodds agreed to take a letter from the pair of protesters and to talk with them at a later date, but she continued to be heckled as she walked alone in the street outside.
George Galloway (pictured) in his signature black fedora and Ray-Ban spectacles, with ‘For Rochdale, For Gaza’ as his slogan
The districts targeted by Galloway and his small team of volunteers have been written on pieces of paper and stuck to tables at his campaign base – including Bamford and Norden, Balderstone and Kirkholt, Milkstone and Deeplish
However, many in the deprived town expressed their resentment at the vote becoming centered around the single issue, suggesting it was distracting from other problems facing families.
‘There’s no point in you tackling world peace when the area you live in is a s***hole,’ a voter told The Sunday Times.
Meanwhile Sara Rowbotham, the former health worker who blew the whistle on Rochdale’s infamous child sexual exploitation rings, told the FT that the rhetoric around the war in Gaza is distracting from the needs of the town.
She said that the campaign has been dominated by ‘macho’ and divisive language, overlooking the ‘serious poverty’ which is affecting parts of the community.
‘None of it bears any relation to what the town actually needs,’ added Rowbotham, who will stand down as a Labour councillor at UK local elections in May.
Meanwhile in the capital, successive protests over recent days have brought parts of the city to a standstill.
Last Friday protesters occupied Tower Bridge, grinding traffic to a halt and causing police to close it for almost an hour.
That came two days after pro-Palestine slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ was projected on to Big Ben.
A powerful pocket-sized laser was used to project the message, which has been a fixture at protest marches since the October 7 terror attack, on to the clock tower from several hundred yards away on the other side of Parliament Square.
The stunt took place just minutes after Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle cited concerns for MPs’ safety as the reason he broke with convention over a Gaza ceasefire vote – sparking chaos inside the chamber.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s position has been under threat since his decision to allow a vote on a Labour motion during last Wednesday’s debate on Gaza
He was later the subject of more than 90 votes of no confidence from MPs after he selected a Labour amendment that the protesters were urging politicians to back.
Halima Begum, chief executive of the ActionAid UK charity, said of the scenes in Parliament: ‘We are extremely disappointed to see the utter paralysis in Parliament this evening. Democracy is a precious commodity and should be treated as such.
‘A great disservice has been done to the British people, who expected their political parties and elected representatives to conduct a meaningful debate concerning an issue on which depends the lives of over a hundred Israeli hostages, and hundreds of thousands of Gazans suffering one of the most acute humanitarian crises we have seen in recent times.’
Sir Lindsay cited warnings that the safety of some MPs was under threat if they couldn’t vote for the Labour motion, with pro-Palestinian groups targeting politicians’ offices.
Amid concerns for politicians’ safety, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has defended its right to lobby MPs ‘in large numbers’.
The group said the issue of MPs’ security was ‘serious’ but should not be used to ‘shield MPs from democratic accountability’.
There were reports that the group wanted so many protesters to turn up at Parliament on Wednesday that they would ‘have to lock the doors’ to the building.
It comes as it was revealed that police forces have spent at least £30million patrolling pro-Palestine rallies that have broken out across the UK since Hamas launched its attack on Israel last year.
So far, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, some 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza and a further 1.7million displaced. Pictured: Palestinians search for bodies and survivors (Feburary 20)
The National Police Chiefs’ Council called on the Treasury to ask for more funding and warned that ‘costs will continue to mount’ as protesters routinely flood Britain’s streets, the Sunday Express reported.
Officers responded to more than 900 demonstrations between October 7 and December 10 last year, the NPCC revealed. The majority of protests were held in London, but at least 315 occurred in other cities.
It is understood that the Met Police has spent about £18.9million on the protests, whereas Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland have spent approximately £7.6million combined.
The protests, many of which are urging for an immediate ceasefire, come as the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry announced that the death toll has risen to just shy of 30,000 people.
A further 1.7million Palestinians are estimated to have been displaced during the war, which Israel launched following the Hamas terror atrocities of October 7.
