George Galloway has raged at prime minister Rishi Sunak after being elected as MP for Rochdale, saying “I despise the Prime Minister”.
Mr Galloway, who leads the Workers Party of Britain, made the comments while being interviewed by Sky News’ Sam Coates following yesterday’s by-election in the Greater Manchester constituency where he was asked if he respected the Prime Minister.
He responded: “Do I respect the Prime Minister? I despise the prime minister and guess what millions and millions and millions of people in this country despise the Prime Minister.
“I don’t respect the Prime Minister at all.”
Mr Sunak has described his election as “alarming” and accused Mr Galloway of having “backed Hezbollah”.
Mr Galloway told Sky News: “You talk as if (he) is God. We’re talking about little Rishi Sunak, in the fag end of his prime ministership. Don’t talk to me as if he’s come down from the Mount with tablets of stone.”
Following Mr Galloway’s election, Mr Sunak accused him of dismissing “the horror of what happened on October 7”, mentioning that he was “endorsed by Nick Griffin, the racist former leader of the BNP”.
But Mr Galloway told Channel 5 News “I really don’t know what he’s talking about”, saying he had never met Nick Griffin.
He added: “I’m not responsible for whoever declares they endorse me, I’ve never met Mr Griffin and have no intention to.
“I don’t know what the glorifying of Hezbollah is all about but maybe he can tell me on Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions if he’s got the guts.”
Mr Galloway said he “abhors extremism” just as much as Mr Sunak, agreeing with him that change could only come through the democratic process.
He added in the Sky News interview: “I oppose Israel’s occupation of Lebanon and I respect the right of people in occupied territory to resist their occupier, and I’ve done so since Hezbollah was formed and Israel occupied much of Lebanon right up to the Litani River, regularly bombing Beirut and so on.
“I’m not sure what business that is of his, they said all these things about me in the by-election … it was them that got crushed in the democratic process, so I’m not sure why they would reheat it now.”
It comes after Mr Galloway exploded at an ITV news reporter after he was quizzed about his commitments following his election.
Responding to a question on whether he cared about the people of Rochdale, Mr Galloway fumed: “I hope you didn’t practise that question, did you? You fool, are you a student journalist?”
Following his election on Thursday, the 69-year-old used his victory speech to declare: “This is for Gaza.”
