Gaza War: The return of controversial politician George Galloway to the limelight

The 69-year-old’s recent political comeback, in the Rochdale constituency, shows that he has not lost his appetite for combat, or his talent for provoking his opponents.

As he did in previous by-elections, his message primarily targeted Muslim voters, and he promised if he won to be a strong advocate for the Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

But he also targeted the entire political and media establishment.

“There is not much I can do to stop Netanyahu, but I have the right to try to prevent Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer from cooperating with him,” he said at a meeting in Rochdale during the election campaign.

He added, “For this reason, politicians and the media are not satisfied with the possibility of my return to Parliament at the end of this month because they know that I will enter the hall of the House of Commons like a hurricane. I will enter Parliament at the end of this month, and the walls of its hall will shake for the sake of Gaza.”

He went on to say: “They know this, and they fear my return, so you must give them what they fear.”

This kind of combative rhetoric is Galloway’s hallmark.

To his critics and opponents, he is a dangerous and divisive egotist.

He considers himself part of the international struggle for socialism and against imperialism – especially American imperialism – and a staunch opponent of Zionism. He described Israel as an apartheid state and called for its dismantling.

Despite rumors of his conversion to Islam, he is strongly attached to his Irish Catholic roots and stressed the importance of having a large family. He has six children and married his fourth wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, in 2012.

Galloway was born in the poor city of Dundee in 1954, and worked on the production line at Michelin Tires, where he first became active as a trade unionist.

In 1980, he participated in raising the Palestinian flag from the offices of the Dundee Municipal Council, and participated in the twinning of Dundee with the city of Nablus in the West Bank. In 1983, he became Secretary-General of the War on Want charity.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1987, as the Labor MP for Glasgow Hillhead, where he quickly gained a reputation as a left-wing militant.

In the 1990s, he was severely criticized because he met Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and told him – in a frequently repeated clip – “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, and your determination.” His numerous visits to the region during that period led to him being called “the British Member of Parliament for central Baghdad.”

And what many supporters consider his finest hour – and what he described at the time as the best day of his life – when in 2005 he gave evidence to a US Senate subcommittee.

He described allegations that he was given credits to purchase Iraqi oil by Saddam Hussein as “the mother of all cover-ups to cover up crimes” committed as part of the invasion of Iraq. He accused senators investigating the UN oil-for-food program of being “arrogant” about justice, saying they had “smeared” his name.

The New York Post headline at the time read, “Briton fried senators in oil.”

At the time, he had been expelled from the Labor Party due to his position on the 2003 Iraq War.

Labor accused him of tarnishing the party’s reputation after he said British forces in Iraq should refuse to obey orders, saying those orders would be “illegal” because the British-American invasion of Iraq was “illegal.”

He joined the nascent anti-war Respect Party in 2004, winning an unexpected victory in Bethnal Green and Bow, in east London, in a tense, and at times bitter, campaign.

With his fame reaching an all-time high, he made the decision to enter the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

For many, the lasting image of Galloway is one of him wearing a tight suit, pretending to be a cat and sipping imaginary milk from actress Rula Lenska’s hand, while speaking in a calm voice.

He’s received his share of ridicule for his appearance on the show, but it doesn’t seem to have done any long-term damage to his political career.

After losing to Bethnal Green and Bowe in the 2010 general election, he ran in the by-election in Bradford West in 2012, which he won by a landslide of 56 percent of the vote.

It was one of the biggest shake-ups in modern electoral history, but he lost the seat in the 2015 general election.

More by-elections would follow – including defeat to Labor in Batley and Spen in 2021 after another poor campaign and a run for mayor of London in 2016, where he came seventh.

He rarely appears on mainstream media now (he’s not a fan), and he’s become adept at using social media to get his message out.

He put his oratorical skills to use as a host of a phone-in show, which he called “the mother of all talk shows,” and as a presenter on the Kremlin-backed RT news channel, which went off the air in 2022.

Galloway’s style violated Ofcom’s impartiality rules on multiple occasions at the two stations in 2018, including three times for being unbalanced over the Skripal poisoning issue, and in a radio talk for anti-Semitism. He was later fired from RT over a social media post deemed offensive. Anti-Semitic.

Galloway’s latest election vehicle, the Workers Party of Britain, reflects Labour’s traditional socialist values. It aims to recruit 50 candidates to send a message to Keir Starmer – who figures prominently on his enemies list – about the upcoming general election.

But at the same time, his return to the House of Commons, whatever its duration, will be interesting.