Sir Keir Starmer should be very, very worried after Galloway win
He’s back! The left-wing firebrand and Celtic FC fanatic George Galloway has now scored a hat-trick of election victories over Labour, the party he represented in parliament for 16 years.
After ousting Oona King in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005 and winning a spectacular by-election in Bradford West in 2012, he has now done the treble with a stunning and controversial triumph in Rochdale.
His majority over an independent candidate, David Tully, was a comfortable 5,697, with the Conservatives third, Liberal Democrats fourth and the disowned Labour candidate Azhar Ali fifth.
Politics latest: George Galloway celebrates victory
Don’t miss analysis of the Rochdale result this afternoon from Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidson in a new weekly podcast from Sky News
The polls had been closed for less than an hour when the Galloway team claimed victory here. “We’ve won – comfortably,” a source close to his campaign told Sky News before 11pm. How right they were. It was indeed comfortable.
In a rousing victory speech, he denounced Labour and the Conservatives as “two cheeks of the same backside” and claimed he had put Sir Keir Starmer on notice.
He declared with characteristic Galloway passion: “Starmer, this is for Gaza. You have paid, and you will pay, a high price for the role you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe currently going on in occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip.”
He relentlessly targeted his former party during the campaign. One leaflet, showing a pugilistic Mr Galloway in his trademark fedora with raised fists and a glum-looking Labour leader, said: “It’s George Galloway or Keir Starmer’s Labour in Rochdale.”
Another was headlined: “For Rochdale, for Gaza.” It went on: “The people of Gaza don’t have a vote in this election – you do.”
And it concluded: “This election is a straight choice between George who will fight for Palestine and the people of Rochdale – and Keir Starmer, who will fight for Israel.”
Mr Galloway campaigned extensively on the issue of Gaza. Pic: PA
But of course, strictly speaking, it wasn’t Sir Keir’s Labour Party he was fighting. The Labour candidate, Azhar Ali, was disowned by his party on 13 February after comments he made about the Hamas attacks on Israel at a meeting in Lancashire.
“The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel 10 days earlier… Americans warned them a day before… there’s something happening,” the Mail on Sunday reported him saying.
“They deliberately took the security off, they allowed… that massacre gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”
This was dismissed by the Labour leadership as a wild and antisemitic conspiracy theory – Mr Ali apologised and was dumped a few days later. But it was too late for Sir Keir to repair the damage.
Nominations had closed, which meant he was still the candidate and his name – beginning, fortuitously for him, with the letter A – remained at the top of the ballot paper.
Fat lot of good it did him, as he was pushed into fifth place, behind Mr Galloway, political virgin Mr Tully, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
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Mr Galloway beat Oona King in 2005. Pic: PA
For Reform UK, also, it was a night to forget, with the former Labour MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk coming a humiliating sixth, after recent good performances in by-elections that gave Rishi Sunak and the Tories the jitters.
There will be relief in the Tory high command at Reform UK’s poor showing here. For once, after a by-election, Mr Sunak will be relieved and Sir Keir horrified.
Before the result was declared, Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice launched a blistering attack live on Sky News on Mr Danczuk’s opponents. Though he didn’t name names, he appeared to be accusing Mr Galloway’s supporters and those of Mr Ali.
He said Mr Danczuk had faced “vile racist abuse and death threats”. His party’s staff had been intimidated, and they’d had to hire security guards. Business supporters had been threatened with being firebombed and there had been intimidation at polling stations, he claimed.
But in an interview with Sky News immediately after his victory speech, Mr Galloway denied any wrongdoing and said it was his supporters who had faced intimidation during the campaign.
Mr Tice also challenged the legitimacy of the very high number of postal votes cast, a claim his friend and predecessor Nigel Farage has been making in by-elections for years.
For Labour, meanwhile, when it holds its inquest into the debacle of this by-election, it will reflect on how what should have been a routine by-election win in a relatively safe seat turned into Sir Keir’s worst nightmare – a win for George Galloway.
If the Labour leader thinks he gets a hard time now from the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and the Corbynite Labour left over the Israel-Hamas ceasefire row, wait until the ferocious Galloway starts tearing into him in the Commons chamber.
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‘Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza’ – Galloway
Top of the agenda for the Labour inquest will be to identify which idiot decided to hold the by-election in such an unseemly rush after the death of veteran MP and party stalwart Sir Tony Lloyd.
There used to be a convention that a party waited until after the funeral of an MP who’d died before starting moves to select a candidate or plan for the by-election.
Yet here Labour threw convention out of the window and moved with indecent haste. Sir Tony died on 17 January and Mr Ali was selected, defeating political journalist Paul Waugh, just 10 days later, on 27 January.
Sir Tony’s funeral, however, was not until 16 February, three days after Sir Keir had been forced to jettison Mr Ali after allegations from opponents that the Labour leader dithered over how to respond to the Mail on Sunday’s initial report.
It’s not as if Labour hasn’t made this blunder before. In Hartlepool in 2021, Labour MP Mike Hill resigned on 18 March after sexual harassment allegations and Labour raced ahead with the by-election on 6 May, the same day as the local elections.
Then, Labour’s would-be candidates were only given one day to submit their applications and there were allegations of a stitch-up. The by-election was a disaster, with the Tories’ Jill Mortimer winning in a “red wall” triumph for the Conservatives.
Sir Keir responded then by sacking chief whip Nick Brown and attempting to sideline his deputy, Angela Rayner, in a clumsy reshuffle, perhaps forgetting that she was elected to her position by the party and couldn’t be sacked.
There will, surely, be more recriminations after Rochdale, which for the maverick known as “Gorgeous George”, this morning is indeed a beautiful new dawn.
There’s a real risk now that Mr Galloway will carry out his threat to stand up to 50 pro-ceasefire, anti-Israel candidates against Labour in the general election.
Chris Williamson, a Corbynite Labour ex-MP who was here at the Rochdale count supporting Mr Galloway, has told Sky News he hopes to be selected to fight the retiring grandee Margaret Beckett’s Derby South seat at the general election.
George Galloway at a celebration rally. Pic: PA
So it’s not just an election hat-trick that Mr Galloway is celebrating. He hopes to score more victories over his former party later this year, as he also declared in his victory speech.
But amid all the controversy of this campaign, Mr Galloway also claims to have made history in an even more grand manner with his victory here in Rochdale.
In his Sky News interview, he said it was his seventh parliamentary election victory in four different cities, which equals the record of Winston Churchill.
On level terms with Churchill? Modesty has never been Mr Galloway’s style, of course.
But after this hat-trick of election victories for the controversial left-wing firebrand, Sir Keir Starmer should be very, very worried indeed.
UK
Strategic Defence Review: UK gears up to combat Russian threat, but questions remain about funding for new spending
Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to buy more attack submarines and put the military on a war footing as part of a major defence review – but without making any new spending promises.
The lack of extra cash meant the prime minister was coming under fire for empty rhetoric even before the blueprint for the future of the armed forces is released on Monday.
Defence Secretary John Healey was forced to clarify that while he has “no doubt” the government will lift the defence budget to 3% of national income by 2034, he does not actually have a solid commitment from the Treasury, and this remains only an “ambition”.
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‘Britain has lost control of its borders’
Sky News understands that the recommendations in the Strategic Defence Review, which is expected to spell out the importance of rebuilding national defence and resilience, require investment to rise by at least that amount.
Defence insiders say in reality, given the scale of what they see as the threat posed by hostile states such as Russia, funding should come even faster and be higher.
Donald Trump wants Washington’s NATO allies to spend 5% of GDP on their armed forces, while Mark Rutte, the head of the alliance, is pushing for 3.5% by 2032.
“The real story is that Healey didn’t get the money,” one source said.
A second source said there is a danger of the UK losing its leadership role in NATO if it fails to support any potential new 3.5% GDP spending target.
Unusually, the government released responses from Sir Keir and the defence secretary to the review hours before the country would be given a chance to scrutinise its content.
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The document, which is understood to be around 130 to 150 pages, differs from previous reviews as it has been led by external experts rather than being carried out internally.
In a statement, the government said it would commit to “a landmark shift in our deterrence and defence, moving to warfighting readiness to deter threats and strengthen security in the Euro Atlantic area”.
The prime minister will also announce the UK’s plans to buy “up to” 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines in a partnership with Australia and the US known as AUKUS.
However, the only thing new about this is a bit more clarity on the size of the fleet.
The previous government had already committed to starting to replace the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarines by the late 2030s with AUKUS boats.
PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
“Sort of what we already know… repackaged into an announcement,” a defence industry source said.
And the incumbent fleet is not even fully operational yet – almost 30 years after the first order was made.
Britain’s nuclear deterrent – carried by a different type of submarine – will also be an important focus of the review.
The prime minister, for the first time, put a price tag on the cost to develop nuclear warheads for the Trident missiles that will be carried by a new fleet of nuclear-armed submarines, which are also being built.
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He said the UK is spending £15bn over this parliament on the effort.
This investment, coupled with the expansion in submarine building, will support 30,000 highly-skilled jobs across the country, according to a Ministry of Defence statement.
“From the supply lines to the front lines, this government is foursquare behind the men and women upholding our nation’s freedom and security,” the prime minister is expected to say.
“National security is the foundation of my Plan for Change, and this plan will ensure Britain is secure at home and strong abroad.
“This Strategic Defence Review will ensure the UK rises to the challenge and our Armed Forces have the equipment they need that keeps us safe at home while driving greater opportunity for our engineers, shipbuilders and technicians of the future.”
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, criticised ministers for failing to give a firm date to lift defence spending to 3% of national income.
“All of Labour’s Strategic Defence Review promises will be taken with a pinch of salt unless they can show there will actually be enough money to pay for them,” he said.
It was a sentiment echoed by the Liberal Democrats.
“Unless Labour commits to holding cross-party talks on how to reach 3% much more rapidly than the mid-2030s, this announcement risks becoming a damp squib,” said Helen Maguire, the party’s spokesperson on defence.
Organised criminal gangs are increasingly using rented houses and flats to operate illegal cannabis farms – and police say it is putting the lives of innocent neighbours at risk.
The gangs often use crude methods to bypass electricity meters to avoid paying for the high levels of energy the farms require, creating an increased fire risk.
Rival gangs also carry out raids on each other’s farms – a practice known as ‘taxing’ – carrying out “significant violence” to anyone who gets in their way, police say.
Greater Manchester Police detected 402 cannabis farms between May 2024 and April 2025, and Sky News was given access to an operation by its officers at a semi-detached house in a quiet suburban street in Wythenshawe.
Inside, officers found one room full of cannabis plants and another ‘drying room’ with the drug packaged up and ready to be distributed. The street value was estimated in the tens of thousands of pounds.
This home on a quiet street was filled with cannabis plants
Outside, officers found evidence that the electricity meter had been bypassed. ‘Abstracting’ is the offence of dishonestly using, wasting or diverting electricity. One person inside the property was arrested.
“The electricity gets bypassed in order to avoid big electric bills,” Inspector Bree Lanyon said.
“Because a substantial amount of electric is required to run the lights, the ventilation, the heat, everything else that’s required in the cannabis farm, the abstract is done in a haphazard way and it can cause fires within the properties.”
Officers found bags of the drug ready to be distributed
She continued: “We’ve seen a lot of fires recently in premises that have been set up as cannabis farms, because of the way the electricity is set up. It’s not safe and the neighbouring residence could be at risk if that property is burning down.”
The risks posed by cannabis farms were highlighted by the death of seven-year-old Archie York in 2024. He was killed when chemicals being used in a cannabis factory caused an explosion in the family’s block of flats. The drug dealer responsible was jailed for 14 years.
Archie York
The aftermath of the explosion which killed the seven-year-old
Police say gangs employ low-level operatives, known as gardeners, to manage and protect farms, who will often plead guilty to drug offences and accept the punishment to keep police off the trail of those controlling the operation.
The use of rented properties – sometimes through rogue landlords – also makes detection more difficult.
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“The vast majority are organised crime gangs,” said Detective Inspector Paul Crompton, from GMP’s serious and organised crime group. “It infuriates me when we take action against these farms and people say ‘It’s only cannabis’.
“What we see with cannabis farms is that rival organised crime groups will actively target those and break in and take the products by force. You’ve got a risk of potentially people being kidnapped or killed without us knowing anything about them.
“Make no bones about it, there’s massive amounts of money to make and they would rather just go and take that cannabis and sell it for themselves. They’ll do significant, violence against anybody that gets in the way, whether that’s the gardener, the police or residents who might get in the way.”
Police check an electricity meter for evidence of ‘abstracting’
Police say landlords need to be aware of the risks and even the chief executive of the British Landlords Association has fallen victim.
One of Sajjar Ahmad’s properties was badly damaged by those using it for an illegal cannabis farm. “I can only explain it as horrific,” he said.
“Our members, when they’ve experienced the problem with the cannabis farm, they are shocked. They didn’t know it could happen. They are not aware of the telltale signs.
“They have the same regrets as what I experienced – you need to carry out regular inspections and, if somebody is offering you a larger rent, then you should question that.”
Britain has “lost control” of its borders over the last five years, the defence secretary told Sky News after the highest number of migrants this year crossed the Channel.
John Healey told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the previous Conservative government left the UK’s asylum system “in chaos” and the country with “record levels of immigration”, which his government is having to deal with.
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On Saturday, 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK on 18 small boats, government figures showed – the highest number of arrivals in a day so far this year (the previous record was 825 on a day in May).
It brings the provisional total for 2025 so far to 14,811 – the highest ever recorded for the first five months in a year and the highest total for the first six months of the year, which was previously 13,489 on 30 June last year.
2025’s total so far is 42% higher than the same point last year (10,448), and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610).
The highest daily total since data began in 2018 remains at 1,305 on 3 September 2022.
Migrants were seen scrambling to get on small boats in the shallows of a beach at Gravelines, France, on Saturday. Pic: PA
On Saturday, French police watched on while people, including children, boarded small boats in the shallows of a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk.
Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats as they sailed off towards the UK.
Mr Healey said: “Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday.
“Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.”
He said it is a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.
Migrants waited for the boats to come to the beach before wading in to the shallows to board. Pic: PA
“We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,” Mr Healey added.
He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.
“They’re not doing it, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed,” Mr Healey said.
“We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.”
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Migrants waited on the beach at Gravelines before boarding boats to the UK. Pic: PA
People waded through the shallows to get on small boats. Pic: PA
On Saturday, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “completely lost control of our borders”.
The Home Office released figures on Thursday that revealed France is intercepting fewer Channel migrants than ever before, despite signing a £480m deal with the UK to stop the crossings.
French police watched on as migrants boarded the boats in the water at Gravelines. Pic: PA
French authorities escorted the boats after they left the beach. Pic: PA
This year, French police have prevented just over 38% (8,347) of asylum seekers from reaching the UK in small boats, with 13,167 having made the journey successfully.
They stopped an estimated 45% last year and 47% in 2023.
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