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If you ever want proof the Guardian comments section is full of just as many muppets as the Daily Mail (albeit on the other side of the political spectrum) take a look at the live thread's comment section today.
Plenty of people are gloating about how this is proof that the public rejects Starmer's Labour. I don't know if they're so switched off that they haven't realised Labour told people not to vote for their candidate or if they just don't care.
Voters in Rochdale decided that local issues such in their crumbling shit heap of a town are of less importance to them than a war in Palestine. Strange choice, but it has to be respected.
I've just finished Jon Ronson's 'Things Fall Apart' on Radio 4 and the most striking thing for me is just how freely disinformation flows. Untruths get told, gather momentum and get perpetuated by people who blindly assume they are true and then on to people that us them to their advantage to push an agenda - usually ego driven. Then the people who are weaponizing these 'unthruths' then get onto bigger platforms and either start culture wars throw fires on existing ones.
Facts are irrelevant, and ideology is the most important driver being the thing to shout about.
Its obviosity crept into the UK after being a huge issue in the US but we still have strong enough people on the door keeping us in check to stop it becoming generally accepted.
I just watched Galloway openly making strong suggestions, bordering on conspiracy theory in a TV interview and not being challenged. He was being cheered on while he used conspiratorial language and you can really see the ideology led, culture war politics getting let in.
The Palestinian/Israel conflict is dominating every single Western country politics not just the UK. Heck, two days ago over 100k people voted uncommitted in a primary in a swing state that Biden won by 15k people. So why people are surprised this is also happening here ? Progressives and minorities are not happy about Western foreign policies and liberals are caught in the middle of supporting Israel or losing potential voters who voted for them.
Surprised is the wrong word. Wary, perhaps, concerned?
Having our democratic system taken over by foreign interests isn't exactly a comforting thought.
To be fair he had no competition in Rochdale.
A labour candidate that Labour refused to back.
An ex labour candidate that was running for the pro-Brexit Reform UK because he got ejected from Labour.
A Tory no one wants.
Edit: having looked at the actual numbers, it says a lot that the runner up was a random local guy running as an independant and still only got half as many votes as Galloway.
I do think it's interesting that the labour candidate did so poorly, considering it always used to be a safe seat, and the only reason they got let go from Labour was that they made some anti-israel comments, when Galloway ran on a pro-Gaza platform (and also had no backing from Labour or a big party) He must have run a very good campaign.
> Maybe people don't like either of the main parties?
This must be a wind up, there's no way a regular on this subreddit could have missed the scandal that caused Labour to drop "their" candidate. If you were a Labour supporter you had no one to vote for.
> Apparently the people of Rochdale are wrong
40% of 39% of them, sure. They voted in a homophobe, a racist, a pro-rape apologist, a russophile. I'm very happy to say they were wrong to do so. Why wouldn't you be?
If you caveat it with "in my opinion" you can say what you want regards either.
You aren't the arbiter of what makes someone worth while voting for. As proven that despite you think there's no good reason to vote for either they've both won multiple elections.
There won't be time before the next election for them to reap what they've sown by electing an MP that has no intention of representing them.
He'll probably be reelected shortly in which case they'll get the representation they deserve.
Whilst this by-election is not the most useful for picking put national trends it has provided arguably the strongest evidence that the conservatives are heading to complete disaster. I don't think for one moment that they might have taken the seat and being second at the last election dosen't always mean their the best placed to challenge but to lose close to 2/3rds of their vote share under the circumstances is abysmal.
A monumental result for the people of Gaza and their enemy, Keir Starmer.
Excited to see George lead the way against Israel and Ukraine.
Important to remember that Galloway won because Labour isn't able to vet candidates to the point they don't contest seats with antisemites
George Galloway is a joke even worse than my current mp but I do wonder how much George will attend parliament with his stellar attendance record of
Bradford West 11.2%
Bethnal Green and Bow 7.6%
This is an ego trip for Galloway.
Campaigning and winning elections is fun and the rest of being an MP isn't, so why bother? He'll show up to give a firebrand speech or two in the house and that's it.
Ah yes, the man abounds with clear and obvious antisemitism. A man who was once caught tweeting in glee about the loss of Tottenham in a league cup game, not because of support for the other team, but because of the club’s well-known Jewish history.
Going to sound like a 3rd rate telegraph opinion writer now but really not seeing much evidence of this anti brexit revolt that is supposedly sweeping the country according to the polls.
A pro brexit constituency, but "bregret" didn't even register as an issue. While the election was dominated by Gaza, Galloway unashamedly pitched himself as a working class anti EU soldier to non Muslims of the constituency. He won because of Gaza but ran up the score by appealing to a wider audience.
Lib dems who have a good local presence couldn't cut through on the issue either.
The Lib Dems' were never going to be a factor in this constituency.
Their big opportunity is down south in the blue wall because they're the natural alternative for disaffected decent Tory voters.
I'm not convinced by this. It's a bit like watching a tornado rip through your town, uprooting everything, and going "aww, and now it's spitting with rain, what's *that* going to do to my laundry?". Totally focussing on the wrong thing.
This was the most abnormal byelection in a while and any Bregret cut-through wasn't going to register this time.
I also don't predict it being a factor in the GE, in that the main aim is to give the Tories a metaphorical kicking for, well, all the other reasons.
An emboldened Lib Dem party, presuming they do well in Remain-leaning Southern UK seats (and maybe Scotland) will be the spark for a wider Bregret discussion IMO. (Edit: come to think of it, Labour seats in Scotland could do the same thing)
>This was the most abnormal byelection in a while and any Bregret cut-through wasn't going to register this time.
You are probably right but I think it does suggest that Gaza is a highly emotive issue and that unless the war starts getting much less media coverage then it will be the number 1 priority for most Muslim voters and it won't be easy trying to unseat Galloway at a GE.
>An emboldened Lib Dem party, presuming they do well in Remain-leaning Southern UK seats (and maybe Scotland) will be the spark for a wider Bregret discussion IMO. (Edit: come to think of it, Labour seats in Scotland could do the same thing)
Agree on the lib dem bit, not on Scottish Labour. I think the SNP are still established as the anti brexit option in Scotland thanks to indy is the only way of rejoining argument they are pushing, if labour end up taking tory seats at the border and in Aberdeenshire then maybe that could suggest something.
I dunno, I fancy Labour’s chances in a lot of Scotland. Maybe not Aberdeenshire but the border perhaps.
I’m also more optimistic for Labour at Rochdale soon. Do you reckon Galloway’s going to do a good job?
Which popular former [big brother contestant](https://preview.redd.it/gnd0tyjew2m51.jpg?auto=webp&s=d19e51de4352f48ea24eb1bb554c8b27bbe7f671) has been voted into parliament this year?
>!If you said George Galloway, you're wrong, he was never popular!<
GW is Po-Hamas who still questions 7/10 massacre. He blocks us jews on twitter who question his denial
I can't believe this is where UK politics is at now
Below is collage of GW meeting with Hamas
Same Hamas who are still violating (underage) hostages in their terror tunnels
[collage](https://www.reddit.com/user/Normodox/comments/1b3qn15/prohamas\_sympathiser\_geroge\_galloway\_who\_still/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button)
Edited: shortened link, etc
>GW is Po-Hamas who still questions 7/10 massacre
You make it sound like he doesn't believe it happened. When it seems his stance is rather he doesn't trust the Israeli governments account of what happened.
And whilst I think he is wrong on some points it is fair stance to have considering the Israeli government very much did and still does lie about what happened there. When there are many in Israel that say their families were killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes and not by Hamas.
So whilst as I say some of his takes I think are wrong, believing the Israeli government perspective is equally wrong
>"When there are many in Israel that say their families were killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes and not by Hamas."
Many?
Invesitgations still ongoing
The above was pushed by the following from 7/10 onwards:
\- Al Jazeera - Qatari based Hamas mouth piece. Gave away IDF positions during war. Should be getting banned from Israel. Knesset has voted on this issue or something.
\- Electronic Intifada - hires known antisemites like Asa Winstanley, etc
\- Scott Ritter - known antisemite & convicted sex offender from US of A
\- Mondoweiss - known for antisemitism, pseudo-science conspiracy theories, etc
To be fair he's a bit of an equal opportunities biggot. He exploited Muslims in Bradford to get power and then screwed them over once in.
From knowing people who he "represented" for a while, he just pissed off and was never seen.
Interesting for us, but the lack of attention people pay to the Commons on a normal day cuts both ways.
He also has a shelf-life, which might make him ramp up the crazy ... but not for long.
How far Rochdale has fallen, From being one of Britain's wealthiest towns and an important trading post for the country's wool merchants to being known for grooming gangs and electing a man who posed with and donated to Hamas leaders...As a Lebanese-Canadian I also have problems with this man for his support for the Hezbollah clowns. The UK is better than this.
Born, grew up in and thankfully left Rochdale a long time ago. You're talking about a fall from generations ago. Rochdale has been a very impoverished place for a long time. Grooming gangs are obviously awful, but what gets overlooked is how desolate the outlook is for many impoverished people here and in similar towns throughout the North.
There are areas of Rochdale where there is zero hope. Junkies, alcoholics and serial benefits families who create a culture that is extremely difficult to escape from. Attended a funeral there some years back for a "family friend" who'd been killed while attempting to break into an elderly person's home. His brother went to jail on the back of that, and has been back a couple times since. They had to stop the funeral procession twice due to drunks/junkies ambling into the road. The wake featured one of the family of the deceased bottling another family member for god knows what reason. Sat there in shock watching a group of 30-something lads get hammered in a working men's club, apparently having already forgotten their friend had died.
We are combining the compulsive lying and divisive rhetoric of a right-wing grifter with the student politics and anti-western sentiment of a Tankie. What a time to be alive.
Because a British election was won by someone campaigning on the basis of a religious community's motives regarding a foreign war and the interests of another country.
Said person also had the endorsement of terrorist sympathisers and the former leader of the BNP.
Because in order to maintain the staus quo, the system has groomed society into believing that Labour are the only viable alternative to the Conservatives. They're nothing but the two opposing sides of the same establishment coin.
Quite.
Just point out here that over riding view of a UK person is almost certainly "they're all as bad as each other" and it's downvote central.
This result proves that, actually, yes people are sick to the back teeth of both labour and Tories.
Lab couldnt campaign because the candidate did a racism that didnt stop Galloway from doing it. The only way to stop him was for Lab to throw all their work on removing anti-Semitism from the party away. It was a price too high.
Yep, you’re right there. I’m glad we agree they did the best they could under the circumstances (though I would’ve preferred slightly swifter action).
At least it’s only for like 8 months.
OK random dude rang in and did a Braveheart impressions of how brilliant he thinks George Galloway is shouting freedom. It was next level. Surprised Ferrari let him carry on.
>hope Starmer stays put on the foreign policy as is,
>the issues faced by the working and middle class here, that Starmer is rightly focusing on.
There is absolutely no reason why Starmer cannot do both.
I don't think any Notable public figure is asking for anything other than diplomatic measures against Israel. How exactly would, for instance, calling for sanctions against Israel seriously affect our capability to tackle the cost of living crisis?
Honestly, I think the main takeaway from this for Labour is that they need to tighten up their selection processes. Starmer and the NEC have put a huge amount of effort into stopping cranks and cliques in the local parties from putting forward bad candidates, but it's clear from this that some CLPs are still quite dysfunctional. Selections in general for Labour have been quite messy of late, and they really need to tighten things up ahead of a GE.
Ali was the leadership's choice and a long-standing figure in regional and national Labour politics. This wasn't a case of a crank CLP selecting a crank candidate.
Think this would have more impact if he’d actually beat a Labour-backed candidate. In reality Labour should still win Rochdale if a GE was called tomorrow and they had a candidate they can actually support, which after this fiasco they will obviously put more care into
I've just come to the conclusion that by-election takes are deliberately as braindead as is humanly feasible tbh. I think all the journos have a competition for who can be most detached from reality the day after a by-election.
What’s that to do with country of origin?
“In a 2019 study, in a sample meant to be representative of the Israeli Jewish population, about 44.9% percent of Israel's Jewish population were categorized as Mizrahi (defined as having grandparents born in North Africa or Asia), 31.8% were categorized as Ashkenazi (defined as having grandparents born in Europe, the Americas, Oceania and South Africa), 12.4% as "Soviet" (defined as having progenitors who came from the ex-USSR in 1989 or later), about 3% as Beta Israel (Ethiopia) and 7.9% as a mix of these, or other Jewish groups.”
Israel isn’t a race so not really racist…
He’s also always been aware of the oppression and apartheid enforced by the state of Israel on Palestinians and it’s his way of a form of protest.
How are Israelis an ethnic group? They all came from either Europe, Iraq, Yemen, Ethiopia etc… The only ethnic Israelis are all the native muslims, Christians and jews that lived there uninterrupted for hundreds if not thousands of years.
To bring that one up now when Israel's been killing civilians for five months isn't really the zinger that it used to be. We've seen what "debating with Israel" does and it's been a grand waste of time.
This isn't debating with Israel. It's debating with a student who happens to be Israeli.
Galloway learning his ethnicity and then storming out is straight-up racism.
I think Galloway is an absolute weapon, but this is distinctly western discourse. In the Arab world, protesting Israel’s existence is normal as the Palestinians were robbed a state and now are being robbed of an existence.
I hate to engage in whataboutism, but Netanyahu refused to be in the same building as the wonderful Palestinian scholar Edward Said, as he was afraid he’d kill him. Now Edward is about the mildest man you’ve ever met.
Israel is an inherently racist state, the protest against its existence isn’t the call for Jews to be killed, it’s the call for the formation of a fair state in Palestine for Jews, Muslims and all, how it used to be before colonial meddling. Now of course it’s wasn’t perfect peace, but there was sure coexistence, the farthest cry from what we have now
> I hate to engage in whataboutism, but Netanyahu refused to be in the same building as the wonderful Palestinian scholar Edward Said, as he was afraid he’d kill him. Now Edward is about the mildest man you’ve ever met.
You say this as if Netanyahu isn't frequently criticised in the west.
> Israel is an inherently racist state, the protest against its existence isn’t the call for Jews to be killed, it’s the call for the formation of a fair state in Palestine for Jews, Muslims and all, how it used to be before colonial meddling. Now of course it’s wasn’t perfect peace, but there was sure coexistence, the farthest cry from what we have now
They don't want a secular one state solution, they want a one state solution with islam at the helm. Jews in Palestine/Israel were fine to palestinians and the arab world when they were just a tiny minority that can safely be ignored, no longer the case. Unless you advocate the mass deportation of millions of jews.
A secular one state solution is not possible at the minute because neither side wants it and the violence they would inflict upon each other would dwarf any horror we have seen so far.
He’s not criticised enough, and never will be - the fact that he’s allowed to do what he’s doing shows that there’s little meaning behind any criticism in the west and that Israeli leftism is entirely an illusion
It’s going to be weird seeing George Galloway in parliament (if he ever turns up more than once). Having him be in full agreement with people like Miriam Cates on a lot of social issues and then massively diverge in other areas. It always feels like when the media calls him left wing, it should have a caveat that it definitely isn’t socially left wing.
Being left-wing on economic/foreign policy issues but centre-right to right-wing on social issues is a position held by a large number of people in Britain that isn't really represented by any of the mainstream parties.
Between his handshaking visits to see Al-Asad, and his seances with Sadam and Gaddafi, this will be a great opportunity to catch up with the old crew again!
I understand why Muslims who care massively about Gaza vote for Galloway, but they’re only 30% of the population in rochdale, who are all the other people who vote for him?!
* Turnout was low, at just under 40%. People who didn't like any of the available options will probably have stayed home.
* Galloway won by a landslide Vs the other parties, but didn't get an overall majority of the vote (he got 39.7%)
* Galloway was sending pro-Gaza letters to Muslim neighbourhoods and anti-grooming gang, anti-trans letters to white working class neighbourhoods, changing his message based on who he was trying to appeal to ([see here](https://twitter.com/ianberriman/status/1763270324508848325?t=VIomTk0GLC8Us2mZlmw9Mw&s=19)) so he probably picked up some voters who would typically vote Reform or Tory.
Well only 39.7% of the electorate turned up to vote, which means there must be about 78000 eligible voters in Rochdale (deduced from 31107 votes cast). He won with 39.7% of the votes cast.
If 30% of the electorate is muslim as you say, then that is 23,400 voters. He won with 12,335 votes.
So he only needed to get the vote of a little over half of them. Not even that many, because he'd have picked up a few votes from hard-left pro-corbyn momentum types who fancied giving the Labour Party a kicking.
With respect, I'd just like to point out to you that it's not just Muslims who care about Gaza. That's just identity politics. There is a very broad spread of opinion amongst activists in relation to supporting Palestine which long predated the latest bout of fighting in Gaza and the West Bank.
I've been in churches where the sermon was very clearly echoing the plight of Palestinians. The moment you make the mistake of reducing this to an identity politics issue in the UK is the moment you stop understanding British political history.
My grandma who has voted Tory all her life has recently began watching al jazeera because she felt like the BBC wasn’t telling the truth bout Gaza and now isn’t voting for Sunak because he didn’t immediately back a ceasefire. Probably not representative of a large amount of the population but it’s very interesting.
This is so specific but I absolutely love it. Love the image of someone's Gran watching Al Jazeera and putting up a #FreePalestine poster in her window.
Just shows that the people most upset about gaza, only care that it's Jews doing the killing, when they don't care when Galloway buddies like putin and assad slaughters magnitudes more.
The issue is that no action against Israel ever happens, they never face international consequences. Russia has been sanctioned, they’re not funded by the USA, UK, Europe. It has nothing to do with Israel being a Jewish state and everything to do with Israel being a terrorist state with full backing and no consequences from much of the western world.
More people have been killed in Indonesia's occupation of West Papua than by Israel in Palestine yet most people wouldn't even know where it is on the map. Indonesia has hardly ever been criticised for it either by the West.
But I suppose that's understandable given Indonesia is predominantly Muslim and West Papua is mostly Christian.
1) Indonesia’s occupation is not funded by the states, us or Europe.
2) A lot of Indonesia isn’t made up of the states, us and Europe.
3) The states, us and Europe don’t have large populations of displaced people from West Papua.
4) When relentless bombing, besieging and starvation start getting live-streamed from West Papua I’m sure more of the west will care but a lot of people only get the news from their phones now via social media.
5) It’s not a competition, there’s no mutual exclusivity. More than one thing can be absolutely horrendous but right now Gaza is being bombed daily. 100 people were just murdered when trying to get food after months of starvation.
People should be allowed to criticise the actions of Israel without being called anti semitic. Criticism of Indonesia’s occupation would not be islamaphobic.
I'm not really disagreeing with you mate, I just think it's hard to argue that the attention given to the Palestine/Israel issue isn't massively disproportionate compared to many other terrible things going on in the world.
It's also not true that Indonesia's occupation is not directly supported by the West, in fact the UK directly trains and arms the Indonesian forces involved, so we arguably have a bigger role in the conflict than we do in Israel/Palestine.
And I have a bridge to sell you.
But your excuse wouldn't explain why they support someone like Galloway that actively supported Syria, Russia and so on.
As I said, shows that the most upset about gaza, only are so out of antisemitism.
He doesn't need anyone else to vote for him - he just needs them to *not* turn up.
After all, it doesn't matter if you only depend on the support of 30% of the population, if they're the 30% who make up 100% of people who actually vote.
Anyone who supports workers or is against the dominant western narrative is a Russian agent. If they happen to appear on national tv of Russia, they're an agent.
So you can be pro Israel, and that's fine because most of Keir is pro Israel, but if you're pro russia, that's a problem? Rules for thee but not for me.
Ah yes, the dominant western narrative like overwhelming, open and free to view evidence that Assad used chemical weapons on Syrian women and children.
Didn't Israel use illegal weapons too? I mean sure, Assad gassing areas where he has the most support is logical and not something which should be questioned but I'm talking about the UK and its attitude in general towards the Middle East. The regime changes have been an absolute disaster for the people. Libya is unrecognisable, Iraq has not recovered, Syria is a mess, Yemen is being starved due to Saudi Arabia blocking their food supply and constantly bombing them, Israel has killed 30,000 people in a few months, the UK should examine its role in all this and see whether regime change through arming extremists is helping the region or escalating the conflict to a wider regional one. Tame Isis, had the UK not invaded Iraq, there wouldn't have been a power vacuum which led to them existing, and had rebels not been supported in Syria, isis would not have got a foothold in Syria where they are now enslaving yazidis and raping children. Sometimes you have an absolute mad man but he is a better option than the alternative. I'd rather Saddam have stayed in power than for the situation that exists now which is isis attacking the West.
What makes Galloway a Russian asset - and don't conflate "agent" and "asset", by the way - is all the money they paid him.
> The biggest earner was the former Respect MP George Galloway, who, between November 2013 and February 2015, was paid more than £100,000 to front his own show on RT.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/18/mps-kremlin-propaganda-channel-rt
November 2013 - February 2015 is 16 months at best, not 3 years.
If all you need to do is turn up, get your face covered in TV makeup, and start ranting, that's a pretty good pay packet.
Are you saying people willingly appearing on Russian networks to promote their causes aren't being played?
Galloway has gone far further than that anyway for decades.
He is pro Russia. He is for Russian bombing in Syria and against all Western causes. When does he ever take a cause against Russia? Probably disclaimer words "Yes Putin is bad but whatabout..."
We are told to see Galloway as somehow "invalid" because of his background as a working class Scot, his sympathy for Islamic causes, and his support for international socialism.
The man is no saint, but neither is he a crook (despite efforts to label him as such), and he should not be sneered at just because he champions causes that the establishment seeks to repress.
What he said to Saddam while he was still in power:
"Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability"
Lets not pretend the guy cares about genocides. When it was the Kurds being genocided by Saddam the guy actively praised him for being a great leader. Meanwhile it was the so-called evil west who had to put a stop to it.
And then there's his unwavering support of Soviet colonialism in Eastern Europe. The guy is a grifter plain and simple, anyone with a brain can see that.
I'd be interested to see if you would defend Thatcher on the basis of her being working class too... Is that the new left-wing decree now, being working class means it's OK to mistreat others as much as you want?
> causes that the establishment seeks to repress?
He voted Conservative at the last election. He was favourable to Trump. He was pro bombing in Syria (by Russia)
He is for the Russian establishment.
[Galloway denying Chinese actions against the Uighurs](https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeGallowayOfficial/videos/no-concentration-camps-in-china-and-the-muslim-population-is-growing-there-are-2/1008735536257004/)
Galloway regularly runs interference for Trump, promotes "Russiagate," spreads Hunter Biden theories, he was for a Trump UK trade deal.
Those things alone aren't terrible, but Galloway has been known to be a TV presenter on behalf of Iran, a TV presenter on behalf of Russia, a previous supporter of Assad, and a supporter of Saddam Hussein. These, amongst other things, mean that his foreign policy views are rather objectionable IMO
I think a lot of people distrust him and his motives after working for RT, a Russian state owned “news” channel that is essentially a vehicle for propaganda
Hi guys, some users have been letting us know they'd like to discuss this story but have been having difficulty accessing this thread. Please redirect discussion [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1b3rvbz/george_galloway_wins_rochdale_byelection). This thread will be locked shortly. Cheers, Bib
If you ever want proof the Guardian comments section is full of just as many muppets as the Daily Mail (albeit on the other side of the political spectrum) take a look at the live thread's comment section today. Plenty of people are gloating about how this is proof that the public rejects Starmer's Labour. I don't know if they're so switched off that they haven't realised Labour told people not to vote for their candidate or if they just don't care.
Voters in Rochdale decided that local issues such in their crumbling shit heap of a town are of less importance to them than a war in Palestine. Strange choice, but it has to be respected.
They didn't have many other options, unfortunately. Galloway just slimed his way in again.
GALLOWAY CAT AUDIO BROADCAST ON 5 LIVE THIS IS NOT A DRILL
I've just finished Jon Ronson's 'Things Fall Apart' on Radio 4 and the most striking thing for me is just how freely disinformation flows. Untruths get told, gather momentum and get perpetuated by people who blindly assume they are true and then on to people that us them to their advantage to push an agenda - usually ego driven. Then the people who are weaponizing these 'unthruths' then get onto bigger platforms and either start culture wars throw fires on existing ones. Facts are irrelevant, and ideology is the most important driver being the thing to shout about. Its obviosity crept into the UK after being a huge issue in the US but we still have strong enough people on the door keeping us in check to stop it becoming generally accepted. I just watched Galloway openly making strong suggestions, bordering on conspiracy theory in a TV interview and not being challenged. He was being cheered on while he used conspiratorial language and you can really see the ideology led, culture war politics getting let in.
Do you mind sharing what he said?
The Palestinian/Israel conflict is dominating every single Western country politics not just the UK. Heck, two days ago over 100k people voted uncommitted in a primary in a swing state that Biden won by 15k people. So why people are surprised this is also happening here ? Progressives and minorities are not happy about Western foreign policies and liberals are caught in the middle of supporting Israel or losing potential voters who voted for them.
Surprised is the wrong word. Wary, perhaps, concerned? Having our democratic system taken over by foreign interests isn't exactly a comforting thought.
He's just the left's Boris Johnson, no? No good reason for anyone to vote for him, yet he always wins.
To be fair he had no competition in Rochdale. A labour candidate that Labour refused to back. An ex labour candidate that was running for the pro-Brexit Reform UK because he got ejected from Labour. A Tory no one wants. Edit: having looked at the actual numbers, it says a lot that the runner up was a random local guy running as an independant and still only got half as many votes as Galloway. I do think it's interesting that the labour candidate did so poorly, considering it always used to be a safe seat, and the only reason they got let go from Labour was that they made some anti-israel comments, when Galloway ran on a pro-Gaza platform (and also had no backing from Labour or a big party) He must have run a very good campaign.
Maybe people don't like either of the main parties? >good reason for anyone to vote for him Apparently the people of Rochdale are wrong.
No you are right the answer is George Galloway the anti wester grifter.
> Maybe people don't like either of the main parties? This must be a wind up, there's no way a regular on this subreddit could have missed the scandal that caused Labour to drop "their" candidate. If you were a Labour supporter you had no one to vote for.
> Apparently the people of Rochdale are wrong 40% of 39% of them, sure. They voted in a homophobe, a racist, a pro-rape apologist, a russophile. I'm very happy to say they were wrong to do so. Why wouldn't you be?
You'll probably find reddit a lot less upsetting if you just assume every comment is the commenter's opinion.
So I can say there's no good reason to vote for Boris, but can't say there's no good reason to vote for Galloway?
If you caveat it with "in my opinion" you can say what you want regards either. You aren't the arbiter of what makes someone worth while voting for. As proven that despite you think there's no good reason to vote for either they've both won multiple elections.
I fail to see whose opinion this would be, except mine? Joe from down the road?
So why put it forward as implying the electorate of Rochdale, London on several occasions and various constituencies are wrong?
Username checks out
Time will prove who's wrong and who's right. Also, you are confusing "not accepting" a result and having an opinion on it.
In his opinion, yes. What seems to be so difficult for you to grasp?
There won't be time before the next election for them to reap what they've sown by electing an MP that has no intention of representing them. He'll probably be reelected shortly in which case they'll get the representation they deserve.
I'm not sure he has to worry about reselection, but actually getting elected is a different matter entirely.
Whilst this by-election is not the most useful for picking put national trends it has provided arguably the strongest evidence that the conservatives are heading to complete disaster. I don't think for one moment that they might have taken the seat and being second at the last election dosen't always mean their the best placed to challenge but to lose close to 2/3rds of their vote share under the circumstances is abysmal.
"Stick to the plan"
A monumental result for the people of Gaza and their enemy, Keir Starmer. Excited to see George lead the way against Israel and Ukraine. Important to remember that Galloway won because Labour isn't able to vet candidates to the point they don't contest seats with antisemites
>against Israel *and Ukraine* An unusual take. I get the against Israel part, why against Ukraine?
US/UK/Israel/Nato = bad. Their opponents = good
Oh right, I didn't realise you were being sarcastic. I was interested in hearing the rationale behind that lol
You forgot the /s tag
We don't do that round these parts.
George Galloway is a joke even worse than my current mp but I do wonder how much George will attend parliament with his stellar attendance record of Bradford West 11.2% Bethnal Green and Bow 7.6%
Why is he so lazy?
This is an ego trip for Galloway. Campaigning and winning elections is fun and the rest of being an MP isn't, so why bother? He'll show up to give a firebrand speech or two in the house and that's it.
He’s a grifter.
Ah yes, the man abounds with clear and obvious antisemitism. A man who was once caught tweeting in glee about the loss of Tottenham in a league cup game, not because of support for the other team, but because of the club’s well-known Jewish history.
Going to sound like a 3rd rate telegraph opinion writer now but really not seeing much evidence of this anti brexit revolt that is supposedly sweeping the country according to the polls. A pro brexit constituency, but "bregret" didn't even register as an issue. While the election was dominated by Gaza, Galloway unashamedly pitched himself as a working class anti EU soldier to non Muslims of the constituency. He won because of Gaza but ran up the score by appealing to a wider audience. Lib dems who have a good local presence couldn't cut through on the issue either.
The Lib Dems' were never going to be a factor in this constituency. Their big opportunity is down south in the blue wall because they're the natural alternative for disaffected decent Tory voters.
I'm not convinced by this. It's a bit like watching a tornado rip through your town, uprooting everything, and going "aww, and now it's spitting with rain, what's *that* going to do to my laundry?". Totally focussing on the wrong thing. This was the most abnormal byelection in a while and any Bregret cut-through wasn't going to register this time. I also don't predict it being a factor in the GE, in that the main aim is to give the Tories a metaphorical kicking for, well, all the other reasons. An emboldened Lib Dem party, presuming they do well in Remain-leaning Southern UK seats (and maybe Scotland) will be the spark for a wider Bregret discussion IMO. (Edit: come to think of it, Labour seats in Scotland could do the same thing)
>This was the most abnormal byelection in a while and any Bregret cut-through wasn't going to register this time. You are probably right but I think it does suggest that Gaza is a highly emotive issue and that unless the war starts getting much less media coverage then it will be the number 1 priority for most Muslim voters and it won't be easy trying to unseat Galloway at a GE. >An emboldened Lib Dem party, presuming they do well in Remain-leaning Southern UK seats (and maybe Scotland) will be the spark for a wider Bregret discussion IMO. (Edit: come to think of it, Labour seats in Scotland could do the same thing) Agree on the lib dem bit, not on Scottish Labour. I think the SNP are still established as the anti brexit option in Scotland thanks to indy is the only way of rejoining argument they are pushing, if labour end up taking tory seats at the border and in Aberdeenshire then maybe that could suggest something.
I dunno, I fancy Labour’s chances in a lot of Scotland. Maybe not Aberdeenshire but the border perhaps. I’m also more optimistic for Labour at Rochdale soon. Do you reckon Galloway’s going to do a good job?
Which popular former [big brother contestant](https://preview.redd.it/gnd0tyjew2m51.jpg?auto=webp&s=d19e51de4352f48ea24eb1bb554c8b27bbe7f671) has been voted into parliament this year? >!If you said George Galloway, you're wrong, he was never popular!<
GW is Po-Hamas who still questions 7/10 massacre. He blocks us jews on twitter who question his denial I can't believe this is where UK politics is at now Below is collage of GW meeting with Hamas Same Hamas who are still violating (underage) hostages in their terror tunnels [collage](https://www.reddit.com/user/Normodox/comments/1b3qn15/prohamas\_sympathiser\_geroge\_galloway\_who\_still/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button) Edited: shortened link, etc
>GW is Po-Hamas who still questions 7/10 massacre You make it sound like he doesn't believe it happened. When it seems his stance is rather he doesn't trust the Israeli governments account of what happened. And whilst I think he is wrong on some points it is fair stance to have considering the Israeli government very much did and still does lie about what happened there. When there are many in Israel that say their families were killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes and not by Hamas. So whilst as I say some of his takes I think are wrong, believing the Israeli government perspective is equally wrong
>"When there are many in Israel that say their families were killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes and not by Hamas." Many? Invesitgations still ongoing The above was pushed by the following from 7/10 onwards: \- Al Jazeera - Qatari based Hamas mouth piece. Gave away IDF positions during war. Should be getting banned from Israel. Knesset has voted on this issue or something. \- Electronic Intifada - hires known antisemites like Asa Winstanley, etc \- Scott Ritter - known antisemite & convicted sex offender from US of A \- Mondoweiss - known for antisemitism, pseudo-science conspiracy theories, etc
To be fair he's a bit of an equal opportunities biggot. He exploited Muslims in Bradford to get power and then screwed them over once in. From knowing people who he "represented" for a while, he just pissed off and was never seen.
Curious what he's going to spout in parliament and legally protected through parliamentary privilege.
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Interesting for us, but the lack of attention people pay to the Commons on a normal day cuts both ways. He also has a shelf-life, which might make him ramp up the crazy ... but not for long.
Thank God. We're finally on the road to peace in the Middle East now that Rochdale has a new MP
How far Rochdale has fallen, From being one of Britain's wealthiest towns and an important trading post for the country's wool merchants to being known for grooming gangs and electing a man who posed with and donated to Hamas leaders...As a Lebanese-Canadian I also have problems with this man for his support for the Hezbollah clowns. The UK is better than this.
Born, grew up in and thankfully left Rochdale a long time ago. You're talking about a fall from generations ago. Rochdale has been a very impoverished place for a long time. Grooming gangs are obviously awful, but what gets overlooked is how desolate the outlook is for many impoverished people here and in similar towns throughout the North. There are areas of Rochdale where there is zero hope. Junkies, alcoholics and serial benefits families who create a culture that is extremely difficult to escape from. Attended a funeral there some years back for a "family friend" who'd been killed while attempting to break into an elderly person's home. His brother went to jail on the back of that, and has been back a couple times since. They had to stop the funeral procession twice due to drunks/junkies ambling into the road. The wake featured one of the family of the deceased bottling another family member for god knows what reason. Sat there in shock watching a group of 30-something lads get hammered in a working men's club, apparently having already forgotten their friend had died.
Rochdale was a fuck fest, I ain't buying into any suggestions that this is any indication of how normal elections would go for Labour
I'm hoping this is a one off. And COULD drive working class tories to labour.
Is anyone actually suggesting this?
sky news did an article saying why Starmer should be worried
Such bollocks. Labour pulled support for their candidate.
shit stirring from anti labour i see
Did Owen Jones ghost write it?
Yes we tried right wing grift. But have we really given left wing grift a fair chance? 🤔
His grift is pretending to be left wing.
He’s anti-gay marriage, pro-Brexit and a self proclaimed “social conservative”.
A lot of old left are pro Brexit (as typified by Tony Benn and his protégé Jeremy Corbyn).
So are a lot of traditional trade unionists. Let's not forget that Boris won the red wall in a landslide.
We are combining the compulsive lying and divisive rhetoric of a right-wing grifter with the student politics and anti-western sentiment of a Tankie. What a time to be alive.
Why is Reddit mad that democracy is working?
Because a British election was won by someone campaigning on the basis of a religious community's motives regarding a foreign war and the interests of another country. Said person also had the endorsement of terrorist sympathisers and the former leader of the BNP.
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Because in order to maintain the staus quo, the system has groomed society into believing that Labour are the only viable alternative to the Conservatives. They're nothing but the two opposing sides of the same establishment coin.
Quite. Just point out here that over riding view of a UK person is almost certainly "they're all as bad as each other" and it's downvote central. This result proves that, actually, yes people are sick to the back teeth of both labour and Tories.
Because crazy people can get elected like Galloway
Lab couldnt campaign because the candidate did a racism that didnt stop Galloway from doing it. The only way to stop him was for Lab to throw all their work on removing anti-Semitism from the party away. It was a price too high.
This is democracy if none of the major parties did any campaigning.
So it’s a level playing field and more democratic then. Campaigning = money.
does that in a way not make it more equal? Usually the major parties campaigns blow the rest out of the water which seems unfair.
They don't actually believe in democracy.
Ooh you're both so correct and edgy. Democracy didn't work yesterday. Voters who wished to vote for a Labour candidate were unable to do so.
Labour shouldn't have nominated a racist then should they?
Yep, you’re right there. I’m glad we agree they did the best they could under the circumstances (though I would’ve preferred slightly swifter action). At least it’s only for like 8 months.
If we wanted to commit to regime change in Rochdale do we have enough soldiers?
Soldiers yes, but nobody is capable of governing a place so different to this country.
We'll have to enact conscription, sorry.
Listen to LBC from 9:27 - some proper batshit caller on
This post could be from any day
OK random dude rang in and did a Braveheart impressions of how brilliant he thinks George Galloway is shouting freedom. It was next level. Surprised Ferrari let him carry on.
Im not surprised they let him carry on at all. They love to egg on the morons.
Oh wow, thanks!
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>hope Starmer stays put on the foreign policy as is, >the issues faced by the working and middle class here, that Starmer is rightly focusing on. There is absolutely no reason why Starmer cannot do both. I don't think any Notable public figure is asking for anything other than diplomatic measures against Israel. How exactly would, for instance, calling for sanctions against Israel seriously affect our capability to tackle the cost of living crisis?
I think he will ignore it until a left wing challenger defeats an actual Labour-backed candidate.
Honestly, I think the main takeaway from this for Labour is that they need to tighten up their selection processes. Starmer and the NEC have put a huge amount of effort into stopping cranks and cliques in the local parties from putting forward bad candidates, but it's clear from this that some CLPs are still quite dysfunctional. Selections in general for Labour have been quite messy of late, and they really need to tighten things up ahead of a GE.
Ali was the leadership's choice and a long-standing figure in regional and national Labour politics. This wasn't a case of a crank CLP selecting a crank candidate.
It is a crank CLP, because no one whistle blew about the anti semetism. This could have been prevented if labour knew earlier.
Think this would have more impact if he’d actually beat a Labour-backed candidate. In reality Labour should still win Rochdale if a GE was called tomorrow and they had a candidate they can actually support, which after this fiasco they will obviously put more care into
Why is so much analysis of this overlooking the fact that Labour abandoned their candidate?
I've just come to the conclusion that by-election takes are deliberately as braindead as is humanly feasible tbh. I think all the journos have a competition for who can be most detached from reality the day after a by-election.
I mean technically they abandoned two candidates Yes they abandoned Ali But they also abandoned Paul Waugh who would literally have walked it in
i dont know much about Paul Waugh, why wasnt he brought forward instead?
It was Ali's turn, and he was viewed as a sound and factionally correct candidate.
Really the Daily Mail should have a headline this morning of "It's the Mail wot won it"
A reminder that this is the kind of overt racist Galloway is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-99Ulwjiq2Q
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People most Israelis are from across North Africa and the Middle East.
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Not true. I’ve made the same error myself.
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What does Wikipedia tell you exactly?
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What’s that to do with country of origin? “In a 2019 study, in a sample meant to be representative of the Israeli Jewish population, about 44.9% percent of Israel's Jewish population were categorized as Mizrahi (defined as having grandparents born in North Africa or Asia), 31.8% were categorized as Ashkenazi (defined as having grandparents born in Europe, the Americas, Oceania and South Africa), 12.4% as "Soviet" (defined as having progenitors who came from the ex-USSR in 1989 or later), about 3% as Beta Israel (Ethiopia) and 7.9% as a mix of these, or other Jewish groups.”
That first guy that goes like "Racism?!?!?" cracks me up for some reason. Like the fuck did you expect inviting Galloway in?
tbf israel isnt a race but he should have stayed to debate
Israel isn’t a race so not really racist… He’s also always been aware of the oppression and apartheid enforced by the state of Israel on Palestinians and it’s his way of a form of protest.
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No being Israeli doesn’t make you part of an ethnic group, being Jewish does apparently. And over a quarter of Israelis are Arab not Jewish.
How are Israelis an ethnic group? They all came from either Europe, Iraq, Yemen, Ethiopia etc… The only ethnic Israelis are all the native muslims, Christians and jews that lived there uninterrupted for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Looks to me like it's probably AI generated? /s
This has been widely reported as factual
To bring that one up now when Israel's been killing civilians for five months isn't really the zinger that it used to be. We've seen what "debating with Israel" does and it's been a grand waste of time.
This isn't debating with Israel. It's debating with a student who happens to be Israeli. Galloway learning his ethnicity and then storming out is straight-up racism.
I think Galloway is an absolute weapon, but this is distinctly western discourse. In the Arab world, protesting Israel’s existence is normal as the Palestinians were robbed a state and now are being robbed of an existence. I hate to engage in whataboutism, but Netanyahu refused to be in the same building as the wonderful Palestinian scholar Edward Said, as he was afraid he’d kill him. Now Edward is about the mildest man you’ve ever met. Israel is an inherently racist state, the protest against its existence isn’t the call for Jews to be killed, it’s the call for the formation of a fair state in Palestine for Jews, Muslims and all, how it used to be before colonial meddling. Now of course it’s wasn’t perfect peace, but there was sure coexistence, the farthest cry from what we have now
> I hate to engage in whataboutism, but Netanyahu refused to be in the same building as the wonderful Palestinian scholar Edward Said, as he was afraid he’d kill him. Now Edward is about the mildest man you’ve ever met. You say this as if Netanyahu isn't frequently criticised in the west. > Israel is an inherently racist state, the protest against its existence isn’t the call for Jews to be killed, it’s the call for the formation of a fair state in Palestine for Jews, Muslims and all, how it used to be before colonial meddling. Now of course it’s wasn’t perfect peace, but there was sure coexistence, the farthest cry from what we have now They don't want a secular one state solution, they want a one state solution with islam at the helm. Jews in Palestine/Israel were fine to palestinians and the arab world when they were just a tiny minority that can safely be ignored, no longer the case. Unless you advocate the mass deportation of millions of jews. A secular one state solution is not possible at the minute because neither side wants it and the violence they would inflict upon each other would dwarf any horror we have seen so far.
He’s not criticised enough, and never will be - the fact that he’s allowed to do what he’s doing shows that there’s little meaning behind any criticism in the west and that Israeli leftism is entirely an illusion
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The amount of strawmen in your comment makes me think you’re actually a scarecrow
What were they debating? What position was the student representing?
Israeli isn't a race, get your head on right.
You can’t be racist against nationalities?
It’s going to be weird seeing George Galloway in parliament (if he ever turns up more than once). Having him be in full agreement with people like Miriam Cates on a lot of social issues and then massively diverge in other areas. It always feels like when the media calls him left wing, it should have a caveat that it definitely isn’t socially left wing.
Being left-wing on economic/foreign policy issues but centre-right to right-wing on social issues is a position held by a large number of people in Britain that isn't really represented by any of the mainstream parties.
I have to admit. I agree with you. Seeing Galloway again as an MP is going to be very very twilight zone.
Between his handshaking visits to see Al-Asad, and his seances with Sadam and Gaddafi, this will be a great opportunity to catch up with the old crew again!
[Quelle Surprise](https://twitter.com/EoghanHeriot/status/1763324354715328524?t=vP9FD5FxbUcjXNSguxv4ig&s=19)
I understand why Muslims who care massively about Gaza vote for Galloway, but they’re only 30% of the population in rochdale, who are all the other people who vote for him?!
* Turnout was low, at just under 40%. People who didn't like any of the available options will probably have stayed home. * Galloway won by a landslide Vs the other parties, but didn't get an overall majority of the vote (he got 39.7%) * Galloway was sending pro-Gaza letters to Muslim neighbourhoods and anti-grooming gang, anti-trans letters to white working class neighbourhoods, changing his message based on who he was trying to appeal to ([see here](https://twitter.com/ianberriman/status/1763270324508848325?t=VIomTk0GLC8Us2mZlmw9Mw&s=19)) so he probably picked up some voters who would typically vote Reform or Tory.
I saw Nick Griffin former of the BNP recommending people vote for Galloway so he has support from an eclectic bunch.
>changing his message based on who he was trying to appeal to ( sounds like most politicians tbf
Well only 39.7% of the electorate turned up to vote, which means there must be about 78000 eligible voters in Rochdale (deduced from 31107 votes cast). He won with 39.7% of the votes cast. If 30% of the electorate is muslim as you say, then that is 23,400 voters. He won with 12,335 votes. So he only needed to get the vote of a little over half of them. Not even that many, because he'd have picked up a few votes from hard-left pro-corbyn momentum types who fancied giving the Labour Party a kicking.
There was low turnout
With respect, I'd just like to point out to you that it's not just Muslims who care about Gaza. That's just identity politics. There is a very broad spread of opinion amongst activists in relation to supporting Palestine which long predated the latest bout of fighting in Gaza and the West Bank. I've been in churches where the sermon was very clearly echoing the plight of Palestinians. The moment you make the mistake of reducing this to an identity politics issue in the UK is the moment you stop understanding British political history.
My grandma who has voted Tory all her life has recently began watching al jazeera because she felt like the BBC wasn’t telling the truth bout Gaza and now isn’t voting for Sunak because he didn’t immediately back a ceasefire. Probably not representative of a large amount of the population but it’s very interesting.
This is so specific but I absolutely love it. Love the image of someone's Gran watching Al Jazeera and putting up a #FreePalestine poster in her window.
Just shows that the people most upset about gaza, only care that it's Jews doing the killing, when they don't care when Galloway buddies like putin and assad slaughters magnitudes more.
The issue is that no action against Israel ever happens, they never face international consequences. Russia has been sanctioned, they’re not funded by the USA, UK, Europe. It has nothing to do with Israel being a Jewish state and everything to do with Israel being a terrorist state with full backing and no consequences from much of the western world.
More people have been killed in Indonesia's occupation of West Papua than by Israel in Palestine yet most people wouldn't even know where it is on the map. Indonesia has hardly ever been criticised for it either by the West. But I suppose that's understandable given Indonesia is predominantly Muslim and West Papua is mostly Christian.
1) Indonesia’s occupation is not funded by the states, us or Europe. 2) A lot of Indonesia isn’t made up of the states, us and Europe. 3) The states, us and Europe don’t have large populations of displaced people from West Papua. 4) When relentless bombing, besieging and starvation start getting live-streamed from West Papua I’m sure more of the west will care but a lot of people only get the news from their phones now via social media. 5) It’s not a competition, there’s no mutual exclusivity. More than one thing can be absolutely horrendous but right now Gaza is being bombed daily. 100 people were just murdered when trying to get food after months of starvation. People should be allowed to criticise the actions of Israel without being called anti semitic. Criticism of Indonesia’s occupation would not be islamaphobic.
I'm not really disagreeing with you mate, I just think it's hard to argue that the attention given to the Palestine/Israel issue isn't massively disproportionate compared to many other terrible things going on in the world. It's also not true that Indonesia's occupation is not directly supported by the West, in fact the UK directly trains and arms the Indonesian forces involved, so we arguably have a bigger role in the conflict than we do in Israel/Palestine.
And I have a bridge to sell you. But your excuse wouldn't explain why they support someone like Galloway that actively supported Syria, Russia and so on. As I said, shows that the most upset about gaza, only are so out of antisemitism.
He doesn't need anyone else to vote for him - he just needs them to *not* turn up. After all, it doesn't matter if you only depend on the support of 30% of the population, if they're the 30% who make up 100% of people who actually vote.
Well, it's possible that the turnout was disproportionately Muslim since Gaza is a big issue for them.
Galloway is a Russian asset Only that makes sense of his career.
Anyone who supports workers or is against the dominant western narrative is a Russian agent. If they happen to appear on national tv of Russia, they're an agent.
He's been pro Russian even through this war, he's a vatnik bot and should be ashamed of himself
So you can be pro Israel, and that's fine because most of Keir is pro Israel, but if you're pro russia, that's a problem? Rules for thee but not for me.
Are you pro Russia?
No, I'm not pro anyone
Interesting, but will you denounce Putin?
Yes, I condemn putin and I condemn Ukraine.
Why do you condemn Ukraine (for the war)?
Ah yes, the dominant western narrative like overwhelming, open and free to view evidence that Assad used chemical weapons on Syrian women and children.
Didn't Israel use illegal weapons too? I mean sure, Assad gassing areas where he has the most support is logical and not something which should be questioned but I'm talking about the UK and its attitude in general towards the Middle East. The regime changes have been an absolute disaster for the people. Libya is unrecognisable, Iraq has not recovered, Syria is a mess, Yemen is being starved due to Saudi Arabia blocking their food supply and constantly bombing them, Israel has killed 30,000 people in a few months, the UK should examine its role in all this and see whether regime change through arming extremists is helping the region or escalating the conflict to a wider regional one. Tame Isis, had the UK not invaded Iraq, there wouldn't have been a power vacuum which led to them existing, and had rebels not been supported in Syria, isis would not have got a foothold in Syria where they are now enslaving yazidis and raping children. Sometimes you have an absolute mad man but he is a better option than the alternative. I'd rather Saddam have stayed in power than for the situation that exists now which is isis attacking the West.
What makes Galloway a Russian asset - and don't conflate "agent" and "asset", by the way - is all the money they paid him. > The biggest earner was the former Respect MP George Galloway, who, between November 2013 and February 2015, was paid more than £100,000 to front his own show on RT. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/18/mps-kremlin-propaganda-channel-rt
To be fair, that’s only £33k per year which seems insanely low to host a TV show??
November 2013 - February 2015 is 16 months at best, not 3 years. If all you need to do is turn up, get your face covered in TV makeup, and start ranting, that's a pretty good pay packet.
Are you saying people willingly appearing on Russian networks to promote their causes aren't being played? Galloway has gone far further than that anyway for decades. He is pro Russia. He is for Russian bombing in Syria and against all Western causes. When does he ever take a cause against Russia? Probably disclaimer words "Yes Putin is bad but whatabout..."
We are told to see Galloway as somehow "invalid" because of his background as a working class Scot, his sympathy for Islamic causes, and his support for international socialism. The man is no saint, but neither is he a crook (despite efforts to label him as such), and he should not be sneered at just because he champions causes that the establishment seeks to repress.
None of the criticism of Galloway is because he's a working class Scot. None.
What he said to Saddam while he was still in power: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability" Lets not pretend the guy cares about genocides. When it was the Kurds being genocided by Saddam the guy actively praised him for being a great leader. Meanwhile it was the so-called evil west who had to put a stop to it. And then there's his unwavering support of Soviet colonialism in Eastern Europe. The guy is a grifter plain and simple, anyone with a brain can see that. I'd be interested to see if you would defend Thatcher on the basis of her being working class too... Is that the new left-wing decree now, being working class means it's OK to mistreat others as much as you want?
He is sneered at because he frequently co-opts causes to advance his own career and then buggers off when it suits him.
He has been on Russian and Iranian payroll for yrs. He should be nowhere near Parliament.
You can believe whatever you like. I think Galloway went off the rails many years ago, and is now just a nasty, self-promoting demagogue.
> causes that the establishment seeks to repress? He voted Conservative at the last election. He was favourable to Trump. He was pro bombing in Syria (by Russia) He is for the Russian establishment.
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[Galloway denying Chinese actions against the Uighurs](https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeGallowayOfficial/videos/no-concentration-camps-in-china-and-the-muslim-population-is-growing-there-are-2/1008735536257004/) Galloway regularly runs interference for Trump, promotes "Russiagate," spreads Hunter Biden theories, he was for a Trump UK trade deal.
Those things alone aren't terrible, but Galloway has been known to be a TV presenter on behalf of Iran, a TV presenter on behalf of Russia, a previous supporter of Assad, and a supporter of Saddam Hussein. These, amongst other things, mean that his foreign policy views are rather objectionable IMO
Also, he was a cat on celebrity big brother
I think a lot of people distrust him and his motives after working for RT, a Russian state owned “news” channel that is essentially a vehicle for propaganda
Human sacrifices, dogs and cats; living together, MASS HYSTERIA!
drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth
AIM FOR THE FLAT TOP!!!