George Galloway wins Bradford West by-election in landside victory

[x_butterfly19_x]

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Respect Party candidate George Galloway has taken the Bradford West parliamentary seat from Labour, winning the by-election by 10,140 votes.

Mr Galloway, expelled by Labour in 2003, said it was the "most sensational victory" in by-election history.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was "incredibly disappointing" and the party needed to "learn lessons

Comments

[icanseenow]

fascinating.

He said Labour "must stop imagining that working people and poor people have no option but to support them if they hate the Tory and Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

Voters need to stop thinking that, too.

[polietics]

Agreed; I'd love to see local people get elected into Parliament. Some diversity in the opposition (and a more diverse coalition government) would bring to Parliament actual representation of Britain at the moment rather than the weird, upper class elite thing going on now.

[icanseenow]

Definitely. I wish the Green party would get more votes, tbh, but a bit more left-wing stuff to build an opposition would be brilliant, too. Well, a girl can dream...
I mean, having the Conservatives doing crazy crazy stuff and then having Labour going "nuh, not good" but still not doing anything against it voting-wise. Argh.

I just looked at the stats for this. 0.3 for Howling Laud Hope of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party...

[polietics]

You gotta love the crazy nuts in hats. They make by-elections.

but a bit more left-wing stuff to build an opposition would be brilliant, too.

I agree, but only if they're socially liberal too. It's stunning how illiberal the Labour party can be on some issues. The Green Party will hopefully become a workable, left-wing alternative to the party that had 13 years in power, yet never got around to legalising equal marriage :/

[siobhanc92]

The local Labour party has a lot to fucking answer for. I can't believe this happened.

Ugh, Galloway.

[x_butterfly19_x]

Pretty much. That swing is quite something.

[polietics]

Regardless of the spin from all sides of the political spectrum as to why this happened, the only thing that's clear to me is the Asian population of Bradford West clearly feel the larger political parties don't speak for them, which is really saddening and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't true across the country.

Pretty upset that there's another homophobic, sexist man in Parliament. With the choice given in Bradford, I probably would have spoilt my ballot.

[x_butterfly19_x]

I agree. Bradford West rejected the big three wholesale.

I wasn't aware of Galloway's sexism and homophobia, just all the other stuff. :/

[polietics]

Yeah, he's a real fucknut. Unfortunately, as he's also anti-war and a Marxist, so he can be seen as "one of the good guys" until you read some of his stuff (like claiming the boyfriend of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for "committing sex crimes against young men", instead of what actually happened, which was simply he was executed for being gay.)

[x_butterfly19_x]

urgh that's the worst.

It's so true about some of his views influencing people to think positively of him - but he's just, you know. Full of his own hubris.
He was on Sky News talking about Blair like it was 2006 all over again last night.

[devilstay]

I' sorry, all I can remember is being something like 13, and me, and the whole country watching with complete fascination as Galloway pretended to be a cat on Big Brother. Never fucking forget.

Also time to smell the coffee, Labour party. This time round I don't see the people settling for 'the better the devil you know' method.

[x_butterfly19_x]

I wonder if we'll have another round of people calling for Ed Miliband to go. Though honestly, I don't see how this would have been much different under Miliband, David. He's more of a Blairite than his brother.

[myrana]

Haha, oblig youtube clip -

It never ceases to creep me the fuck out.

(This was while he was in office as an MP.)

[x_butterfly19_x]

truly one of the oddest things

[svtstarlight]

Mr Miliband said the result had been unexpected and the reasons for it were "not simple".

"We should have won this by-election and I am very disappointed we did not," he said.

No, Mr. Miliband, you should NOT have won the by-election, because Labour ('new' or not) is no different than the bloody Tories. Maybe this will be the wake-up call to you all that you can't trample the ordinary ppl and expect to get away with it. Sadly...I somehow doubt anything will change, no matter which of you is in power. *cynical*

[x_butterfly19_x]

The Labour candidate looked like he couldn't believe what was happening.

[svtstarlight]

I think that's part of their problem; they've become so complacent and are absolutely convinced they're the only answer to the Tories that when someone one-ups them quite so spectacularly like this, they don't know how to deal with it. Welcome to reality, Mr Politician... The old ways of doing things just won't fly anymore. (and I hope that's more than wishful thinking on my part...)

[x_butterfly19_x]

I hope they get a grip and learn from this, I really do. They needed a reality check.