Sir Keir Starmer should be very, very worried after Galloway win

Published

9 months ago

March 1, 2024

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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

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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

Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being ‘hit by large wave’

Published

2 hours ago

November 26, 2024

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Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being 'hit by large wave'

Two Britons are believed to be among more than a dozen people missing after a boat sank in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast.

The yacht, called Sea Story, had 44 people on board, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 13 crew.

Authorities are searching for 16 people, including 12 foreign nationals and four Egyptians, the governor of the Red Sea region said, adding that 28 other people had been rescued.

Preliminary reports suggested a sudden large wave struck the vessel, capsizing it within about five minutes, governor Amr Hanafi said.

“Some passengers were in their cabins, which is why they were unable to escape,” he added in a statement.

The people who were rescued only suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scrapes with none needing hospital treatment.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”

The foreign nationals aboard the 34-metre-long vessel, owned by an Egyptian national, included Americans, Belgians, British, Chinese, Finns, Germans, Irish, Poles, Slovakians, Spanish, and Swiss.

Sea Story had no technical problems, obtained all required permits before the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.

The four-deck, wooden-hulled motor yacht was part of a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam following warnings about rough weather.

Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.

The boat had left Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.

Some survivors had been airlifted to safety on a helicopter, officials said.

The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, said it has no information on the matter.

According to its maker’s website, the Sea Story was built in 2022.

The incident comes after the Egyptian Meteorological Authority issued a warning on Saturday about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea.

The organisation had advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.

Some tourist companies have stopped or limited operations on the Red Sea due to the potential dangers from conflicts in the region.

UK

Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

Published

14 hours ago

November 25, 2024

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.

Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenter posted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.

She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.

Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.

“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”

She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”

In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”

When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.

The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.

She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.

Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”

McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.

With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.

“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”

Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.

McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.

She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.

She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.

UK

UK weather: How long will rainy and windy conditions last – and is another storm already on the way?

Published

14 hours ago

November 25, 2024

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UK weather: How long will rainy and windy conditions last - and is another storm already on the way?

Storm Bert continues to cause chaos in the UK, but just how long is heavy rain and wind expected to batter the country?

The Met Office says Storm Bert will start to “slowly pull away” from the UK on Monday, meaning an unsettled start to the day.

A yellow weather warning remains in place for northern parts of Scotland.

It warns of heavy downpours, especially over higher ground, where accumulations of 50-70mm are expected. The warning is in place until midnight.

Storm Bert latest: Follow live updates

In central Scotland, wind speeds of 50-60mph are likely, and gusts up to 70mph could be felt near the coast and on exposed bridges.

Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said that while the risk of snowfall had now diminished, rainfall would “affect much of the UK”.

Frequent showers are expected in Northern Ireland, northern England, Wales and the West Country, with the heaviest expected in southwestern parts of England and South Wales.

Mr Page said weather warnings “could still be amended” and possibly at short notice, and urged people to “keep up to date with the very latest forecast”.

Sky News meteorologist Christopher England warns there could be a risk of hail and thunder in northern Scotland, at the start of the week.

As of Monday morning, there were hundreds of flood warnings and alerts in place. Three of those – two in Wales and one in England – were “severe warnings”.

A further 160 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts were issued by the Environment Agency in England, and eight flood warnings and 23 flood alerts in place in Wales at the time of writing.

Bert to clear UK by Tuesday

By Tuesday, Storm Bert will finally clear the UK, the Met Office said, bringing with it “quieter weather for many”.

However, parts of the country may not be without rain or wind for long, as the forecaster says strong gusts and rainfall could start again on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

Check the forecast in your area

“How long the more settled conditions last is uncertain, with rain probably returning to westernmost areas at least by the end of the week,” the Met Office website says.

Chris England adds: “Wednesday will bring strong winds and a spell of heavy rain across the south, while the north looks mostly fine after a frosty and foggy start in places.

“Thursday looks cool again, but mostly fine. Friday will be milder, with outbreaks of rain likely over Ireland, Northern Ireland and north-west Scotland.”

He says going into the weekend, Saturday “looks cloudy and breezy in the north and west, with a little rain possible at times”.

When could the next named storm be?

Storm Bert was the second named storm of the season after Storm Ashley brought similar wet and windy conditions towards the end of October.

Although it cannot be known for sure when the next storm will be, the Met Office already knows it will be referred to as Storm Conall. The forecaster names storms in alphabetical order.

It says it only names a storm when it has the “potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning” and according to its long range forecast, this could be as soon as next month.

It says that between 9 and 23 December, “there are signs” there will be wetter and windier interludes with a risk of snow, adding: “These conditions look more likely to dominate towards the middle of December.”

Whether this will be strong enough for a storm to be named remains unknown.