George Galloway’s deputy Chris Williamson has warned that Labour will be “taught a lesson” after his victory in the Rochdale by-election.
The Workers’ Party of Britain representative won the by-election with a majority of 5,697, taking 12,335 votes.
Addressing his victory today after being sworn into Parliament, Galloway threatened to oust Angela Rayner from her seat, saying he will stand a candidate against her at the next election.
Galloway stated: “There are many constituencies in London… Bethnal Green in the heart of the City of London, in Birmingham, in other parts of the West Midlands, in north-west England, in the towns around Rochdale, Oldham, Blackburn, Burnley, Nelson, Bury.
Chris Williamson says Labour should be ‘very afraid’ of George Galloway
PA / GB News
“We’ll be putting candidates up in all these places and we will either win or we’ll make sure that Keir Starmer doesn’t win.”
Responding to Galloway’s plea, Starmer claimed that Galloway only won the by-election because his candidate, Azhar Ali, was withdrawn.
Starmer told reporters: “I regret that we had to withdraw our candidate and apologise to voters in Rochdale, but I took that decision. It was the right decision.
“And when I say I change the Labour Party, I mean it. Obviously we will put a first class candidate, a unifier before the voters in Rochdale at the general election.”
George Galloway has threatened to oust Angela Rayner from her seat
PA
Reacting to the party’s victory and Starmer’s fiery response, Deputy Leader of the Worker’s Party of Britain Chris Williamson said Labour should be “very afraid”.
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Williamson told GB News: “Angela Rayner only has a majority I think of 4,263, and I’ve spoken to a lot of people in other constituencies that the Labour Party would expect to win and won under Tony Blair – places like Burton, Amber Valley, Erewash and so on.
“And I’ve talked to people there and they are determined to put forward candidates not necessarily to win, but to prevent Labour from winning, because people are determined to teach Labour a lesson.”
He continued: “There’s a kind of visceral hatred of the Labour Party because of the way in which they badly let down the people who were the bedrock of Labour support for generations.”
Host Patrick Christys pressed Williamson on what other values the party plans to run for, in the event that Israel and Hamas reaches a ceasefire.
Chris Williamson says the voters have a ‘visceral hate’ for Labour
GB News
Williamson fumed: “That will still be an important issue, but of course the other aspects of what we’re talking about is an economy that works for ordinary people, tackling the housing crisis, tackling the fact that our public services are in absolute meltdown.
“We’re the sixth biggest economy in the world and over 14 million people are living in poverty – that’s absolute scandal and the people have had enough of that.
“Our democracy has been stolen from us. Democracy and politics should be about giving people a choice.”
He continued: “And when there is no choice on offer from the Labour Party or the Conservatives, the two main political parties, the people need an alternative. People will either stop at home, or if they’ve got an alternative, like they had in Rochdale, with George Galloway, I think people will turn out in numbers. There’s no love for the Labour Party.”
