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Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election.

The former Labour MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant, who was standing for the Workers Party of Britain, won 12,335 votes, a majority of 5,697.

Independent candidate David Anthony Tully came in second with 6,638 votes, followed by Conservative runner Paul Ellison with 3,731.

Labour had been expected to win the seat until its campaign was thrown into disarray by leaked recordings of their candidate Azhar Ali making alleged antisemitic comments, obtained by the Daily Mail.

The party withdrew its support from Mr Ali, but by this time it was too late to remove his name from the ballot paper.

Mr Galloway campaigned heavily on the Palestinian cause in Gaza, aiming to use the issue to mobilise Muslim voters in Rochdale.

Rival candidate Simon Danczuk, representing Reform UK, accused Mr Galloway of being divisive and said he would be the “MP for Gaza” rather than the Greater Manchester town.

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Mr Danczuk himself previously represented the seat as a Labour MP but was barred from standing for the party in 2017 after apologising for “inappropriate” text messages sent to a 17-year-old girl.

Guy Otten, the Green Party candidate, also had party support withdrawn over comments made on social media but his name still appeared on the ballot paper.

Pic: PA
Image:
George Galloway. Pic: PA

Rochdale is one of the most deprived towns in England and has been the subject of grooming gang scandals in recent years, with a major report in January concluding that young girls were left “at the mercy” of paedophiles due to failings by senior police and council bosses.

Residents in the constituency likened the by-election to a “pantomime” and told Sky News they felt there were no credible candidates for what they called “the forgotten corner of England”.

The contest was triggered by the death of Labour stalwart Sir Tony Lloyd, who passed away in January following a battle with leukaemia.

The campaign was expected to be relatively straightforward for Labour until it emerged Mr Ali had suggested Israel was complicit in the massacre of its own people in the Hamas attacks on 7 October last year.

He apologised for the remarks, but further reports emerged that he had blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of a pro-Palestinian MP – prompting Labour to withdraw support for him.

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Bithumb halves crypto lending leverage, slashes loan limits by 80%: Report

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Bithumb halves crypto lending leverage, slashes loan limits by 80%: Report

Bithumb halves crypto lending leverage, slashes loan limits by 80%: Report

Bithumb’s new rules slash maximum loan limits by 80% and halve leverage, following regulator scrutiny over high-risk crypto lending products.

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House of Lords under fire for dropping rule that once caught out cricket legend and historian

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House of Lords under fire for dropping rule that once caught out cricket legend and historian

Campaigners have criticised a change to the rules around declarations of interest in the House of Lords as a “retrograde step” which will lead to a “significant loss of transparency”. 

Since 2000, peers have had to register a list of “non-financial interests” – which includes declaring unpaid but often important roles like being a director, trustee, or chair of a company, think tank or charity.

But that requirement was dropped in April despite staff concerns.

Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, and a former Liberal Democrat MP, wants to see the decision reversed.

“It’s a retrograde step,” he said. “I think we’ve got a significant loss of transparency and accountability and that is bad news for the public.

“More than 25 years ago, the Committee on Standards in Public Life identified that there was a need for peers to register non-financial interests because that could influence their decisions. I’m confused as to what’s happened in the last 25 years that now means this requirement can be scrapped.

“This process seems to be all about making matters simpler for peers, rather than what the code of conduct is supposed to do, which is to boost the public’s confidence.”

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MPs and peers alike have long faced scrutiny over their interests outside Westminster. File pic
Image:
MPs and peers alike have long faced scrutiny over their interests outside Westminster. File pic

Rules were too ‘burdensome’, say peers

The change was part of an overhaul of the code of conduct which aimed to “shorten and clarify” the rules for peers.

The House of Lords Conduct Committee argued that updating non-financial interests was “disproportionately burdensome” with “minor and inadvertent errors” causing “large numbers of complaints”.

As a result, the register of Lords interests shrunk in size from 432 pages to 275.

MPs have a different code of conduct, which requires them to declare any formal unpaid positions or other non-financial interests which may be an influence.

A source told Sky News there is real concern among some Lords’ staff about the implications of the change.

Non-financial interest declarations have previously highlighted cases where a peer’s involvement in a think tank or lobbying group overlapped with a paid role.

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Protesters disrupt House of Lords

Cricket legend among peers to breach code

There are also examples where a peer’s non-financial interest declaration has prompted an investigation – revealing a financial interest which should have been declared instead.

In 2023, Lord Skidelsky was found to have breached the code after registering his role as chair of a charity’s trustees as a non-financial interest.

Lord Skidelsky. Pic: UK Parliament
Image:
Lord Skidelsky. Pic: UK Parliament

The Commissioner for Standards investigated after questions were raised about the charity, the Centre for Global Studies.

He concluded that the charity – which was funded by two Russian businessmen – only existed to support Lord Skidelsky’s work, and had paid his staff’s salaries for over 12 years.

In 2021, Lord Botham – the England cricket legend – was found to have breached the code after registering a non-financial interest as an unpaid company director.

The company’s accounts subsequently revealed he and his wife had benefitted from a director’s loan of nearly £200,000. It was considered a minor breach and he apologised.

Former cricketer Lord Botham. File pic: PA
Image:
Former cricketer Lord Botham. File pic: PA

‘Follow the money’

Lord Eric Pickles, the former chair of the anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, believes focusing on financial interests makes the register more transparent.

“My view is always to follow the money. Everything else on a register is camouflage,” he said.

“Restricting the register to financial reward will give peers little wriggle room. I know this is counterintuitive, but the less there is on the register, the more scrutiny there will be on the crucial things.”

Lord Eric Pickles
Image:
Lord Eric Pickles

‘I was shocked’

The SNP want the House of Lords to be scrapped, and has no peers of its own. Deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart MP is deeply concerned by the changes.

“I was actually quite horrified and quite shocked,” he said.

“This is an institution that’s got no democratic accountability, it’s a job for life. If anything, members of the House of Lords should be regulated and judged by a higher standard than us in the House of Commons – and what’s happened is exactly the opposite.”

Public confidence in the Lords is already at a low ebb after the PPE controversy surrounding Baroness Michelle Mone, who took a leave of absence in 2022.

Michelle Mone attends the state opening of parliament in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Michelle Mone attends the state opening of parliament in 2019. Pic: Reuters

The government has pledged to reform the House of Lords and is currently trying to push through a bill abolishing the 92 remaining hereditary peers, which will return to the House of Commons in September.

But just before recess the bill was amended in the Lords so that they can remain as members until retirement or death. It’s a change which is unlikely to be supported by MPs.

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MPs and peers alike have long faced scrutiny over their interests outside Westminster. File pic
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MPs and peers alike have long faced scrutiny over their interests outside Westminster. File pic

A spokesperson for the House of Lords said: “Maintaining public confidence in the House of Lords is a key objective of the code of conduct. To ensure that, the code includes rigorous rules requiring the registration and declaration of all relevant financial interests held by members of the House of Lords.

“Public confidence relies, above all, on transparency over the financial interests that may influence members’ conduct. This change helps ensure the rules regarding registration of interests are understandable, enforceable and focused on the key areas of public concern.

“Members may still declare non-financial interests in debate, where they consider them directly relevant, to inform the House and wider public.

“The Conduct Committee is appointed to review the code of conduct, and it will continue to keep all issues under review. During its review of the code of conduct, the committee considered written evidence from both Unlock Democracy and Transparency International UK, among others.”

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Ethereum core dev ‘safe and free’ after being detained in Turkey

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<div>Ethereum core dev 'safe and free' after being detained in Turkey</div>

<div>Ethereum core dev 'safe and free' after being detained in Turkey</div>

Federico Carrone, a privacy-focused Ethereum core developer, confirmed that he has been released after being accused by Turkish authorities of aiding the “misuse” of an Ethereum privacy protocol.

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