As Labour’s bid to hold onto the safe seat of Rochdale imploded, two of the party’s ex-MPs hit the campaign trail to exploit the chaos.
Election veterans George Galloway and Simon Danczuk turned their back on the party years ago and are now both convinced they can inflict a humiliating defeat on Sir Keir Starmer in the by-election on February 29.
Mr Galloway, who represents the Workers’ Party of Britain, branded himself “Mr Gaza” as he appealed for locals to lend him their votes to demonstrate their anger over the war.
Rival Mr Danczuk, of Nigel Farage-linked Reform UK, is focusing his campaign on working-class voters in the Lancashire town who are fed up with “woke” Labour.
Speaking to the Daily Express at his campaign headquarters at a Suzuki garage, Mr Galloway said he knew he would stand as soon as it became clear there would be a by-election.
He said: “The Gaza catastrophe is raging and the people are aroused on the issue of Gaza all over the country and in particular in places like this, and I’m Mr Gaza so it’s a no-brainer really.”
The former Labour and Respect Party MP drew a comparison with Sir Winston Churchill’s track record of electoral victories.
He said: “I think that we’re going to score a famous victory here, one that will be remembered.
“I’ve won a lot of elections, this would be my seventh and it would be my fourth city, I think you’ll find that only Mr Churchill could match that. It will be historic in many, many ways.”
The 69-year-old firebrand predicted that a victory for him in Rochdale, where around 20 per cent of the electorate are Asian, would be a taste of things to come for Labour at the general election.
He said: “All it needed was a spark and I’m that spark.”
Sir Keir has angered Muslim voters over his refusal to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. He is now calling for a “sustainable” ceasefire.
Mr Galloway rejected claims he is running a single-issue campaign or that it is divisive.
He said: “Our slogan is ‘for Rochdale, for Gaza’ but Rochdale is first.”
Mr Galloway said Labour was “imploding” following the dumping of its Rochdale by-election candidate over Israel comments.
Meeting the Express at the San Remo cafe with his wife Claudine, known as Coco, Mr Danczuk said Labour had changed since his days in the party.
He was Labour’s MP for Rochdale from 2010 to 2015 then sat as an independent until 2017 after being suspended over allegations he sent explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl.
Mr Danczuk said: “I was what you would have called a traditional Labour MP and traditional Labour Party member so believed in law and order, supported and believed in the Royal Family, tough on illegal immigration, getting people into work.
“The Labour Party gets its name from being the party of labour but now it’s not about work it’s more about woke. That just doesn’t suit my kind of politics whereas Reform certainly does.
“They’re more interested in transgender issues, taking the knee, Black Lives Matter, they’re not interested in ordinary working-class people in communities like Rochdale that’s for sure.”
The 57-year-old, who is known for his campaigning work on child sex abuse, added that he was “quietly confident” ahead of the by-election.
He said: “I think there’s all to play for, we’re in it to win it. We’re a fledgling party remember. But what we have to say and what we stand for really resonates with people in towns like Rochdale so I think people are seeing us as an excellent alternative to the mainstream political parties in the UK.”
He called on voters to “unite to ensure that Galloway does not become the MP for Rochdale”.
He said: “My focus is 100 per cent on the town of Rochdale, whilst Galloway’s focus is on Gaza.”
When the Express visited Labour’s campaign HQ in Rochdale on Monday, there was little sign of activity as the party wrestled about what to do with the growing backlash over Israel remarks made by its candidate Azhar Ali.
The Lancashire County councillor and former government adviser was cut loose by Sir Keir on Monday night 48 hours after it emerged he claimed Israel allowed Hamas’s October 7 massacre to happen as a “green light” to invade Gaza.
Mr Ali, who has apologised for the remarks recorded in a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party, will remain on the ballot paper for Labour as the deadline to remove him has passed.
In the town centre, voters were split over who they would back at the by-election. Some said they would not vote as they were disinterested or disillusioned with politics.
The by-election was triggered by the death of sitting MP Sir Tony Lloyd, who held the seat for Labour at the 2019 election with a 9,668 majority over the Tories.
The town is one of the most deprived in England, voted 60 per cent for Brexit and has been the subject of grooming gang scandals.
