“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza”. With the opening words of his victory speech at 3.45am this morning the old pro George Galloway propelled the conflict in the Middle East into the heart of Britain’s election year politics.

Galloway knows what he is doing. Since 1987 he has been elected as MP seven times in five constituencies – Glasgow Hillhead, Glasgow Kelvin, Bethnal Green and Bow, Bradford West and now Rochdale. In that time he has stood under many different banners. Labour until the Iraq invasion, then independent Labour, then Respect Party and now the proto-communist the Workers Party of Britain which he helped found.

But party affiliations scarcely matter to Gorgeous George. In response to Richard Tice’s complaints of bullying in Rochdale, he impishly claimed to Sky News’ Jon Craig that he had kept a text from the Reform leader asking him to be his party’s candidate in another by-election.

Galloway is a pugnacious one-man band, capable of inspiring devoted followers with his eloquence and championing of causes, headed by what he calls “occupied Palestine”. The 69-year-old mobilised 500 canvassers on the streets of Rochdale, more than anyone else, including his “wife, six children and five grandchildren”.

The main parties, especially Labour, are to blame for giving this maverick scavenger his opportunity and the pulpit from which he plans to cause as much trouble as he can for Sir Keir Starmer. Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens all failed to field credible candidates in this rushed by-election in Rochdale, even if all except the Greens clung onto their deposits, each with more than 5 per cent of votes cast. They were well behind Galloway with 39.7 per cent, and the local........

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